- CANBERRA (AFP) - Australian
Prime Minister John Howard was forced to leave home by a back door Wednesday
as anti-war protesters blocked the front gates of his official residence
here.
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- Up to 15 Greenpeace activists protesting the government's
decision on Tuesday to commit troops to a US-led invasion of Iraq moved
in around dawn, chaining themselves to the gates and to four-wheel drive
vehicles blocking the entrances of the residence.
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- They carried banners proclaiming "Howard's war --
a bloody outrage" and "John Howard -- war criminal" in a
peak-hour protest that caused major traffic congestion on one of Canberra's
major arterial roads.
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- Howard, dogged in recent days by protestors wherever
he goes, came face to face with the demonstrators as he left for his early
morning walk.
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- He challenged them when he returned, telling one: "I'm
entitled to my opinion, you're entitled to yours."
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- Later the protesters prevented Howard leaving for nearby
Parliament House by car, forcing him instead to use a pedestrian gate to
reach a waiting car outside.
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- Police persuaded the protesters to end their protest
two and a half hours later and said they would not be arrested.
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- Wearing blue UN berets, 10 of the protesters used bicycle
locks to chain themselves underneath four-wheel drives mocked up to look
like UN vehicles, and to security gates.
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- Greenpeace spokesman Shane Rattenbury said the protesters
were symbolically placing Howard under house arrest.
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- "The prime minister said yesterday not to have an
argument with the Australian troops and to bring the beef to him,"
Rattenbury said.
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- "That's what we have done here, we've brought it
here to the PM's house to deliver the message that Australians don't want
this war in Iraq.
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- "It's not our war. It's immoral, illegal, and Australians
shouldn't be there."
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- The protesters said they faced no opposition as they
began their action. But soon afterwards at least 20 police as well as official
security guards and plain clothes security officers arrived to guard the
compound, about 500 metres (1,650 feet) from Parliament House.
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