Riot squad police with batons kept anti-war protesters from marching on President Bush in Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, last night. Several thousand people took part in the protest. Suzanne Breen Senior Northern Correspondent reports
The vast majority marched past the spot where the main organisers, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), had planned for the rally to be held and went further up the road to within half a mile of the village.
Some of the protesters shouted "SS RUC", "Shame! Shame!" and "Bush's boot boys!" at police.
Residents of the mainly unionist, middle-class village looked on in shock. Around 300 demonstrators remained at the platform where speakers from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, and the Women's Coalition were due to address the crowd.
Most of the protesters swept past, blowing whistles and beating drums. They were blocked from entering Hillsborough by dozens of riot police and rows of Land Rovers.
They shouted "Murderers!", "Terrorists!" and "Why don't you join the British army?" at the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Many officers were wearing balaclavas.
When a police officer attempted to address the crowd, urging them to disperse, he was drowned out by jeers and whistles.
Former civil rights leader Ms Bernadette McAliskey drew loud cheers from the crowd when she told the SDLP and Sinn Féin they shouldn't meet President Bush.
Sinn Féin chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin was booed when he tried to address the rally. Protesters, angry at his party's decision to meet the President, chanted "Shame!"
A man with a loud-hailer condemned the PSNI for protecting "Bombers Bush and Blair". He said the protesters were there "to show solidarity with the people of Iraq".
A west Belfast man with a flask distributed cups to his friends. "This is a Hillsborough tea-party," he said.
The crowd shouted, "George Bush we know you! Daddy was a killer too!". They sang, "We all live in a terrorist regime!" to the tune of "We all live in a yellow submarine!" "F*** Bush" was written over most of the road signs into Hillsborough. On an estate agent's sign, advertising a luxurious new housing development, was painted "For Sale - Irish Peace Process".
Several busloads of protesters arrived from Dublin and the Border counties. One man waved a placard saying "Osama Bin Bush".
There were banners from Maynooth, Clonakilty and Donegal. Other banners said: "Brits out - of Iraq", "Irish sovereignty, Iraqi sovereignty - both violated", "Ulster Says - Not on our Turf" and "No to War Criminals in Belfast".
Many of the protesters criticised the ICTU's decision to allow the SDLP and Sinn Féin to address the rally. These parties had rejected demands by the Stop the War Coalition not to meet President Bush today.
One speaker, Ms Aine Fox, told the crowd: "Shame on the SDLP, Shame on Sinn Féin, Shame on the Women's Coalition."
Mr Peter Bunting of the ICTU defended the decision to allow the parties to address the rally.
"We are a broad coalition of diverse political views. We live in the real world. The parties are meeting Bush. That's real politics and it shouldn't mean they can't speak at this demonstration."
Mr Joe Higgins TD told the crowd President Bush and Mr Blair were using the Irish peace process as an alibi to cover the "bloody slaughter" in Iraq.