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----- Original Message -----
From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2001 1:03 AM
Subject: [downwithcapitalism] Bush in Warsaw
Agence France Presse. Friday, June 15 6:34 PM SGT. Warsaw a city under
siege as President Bush arrives.
WARSAW -- Warsaw was a city under siege on Friday as hundreds of police
with clubs were out on the streets to protect visiting US President
George W. Bush from everything from terrorists to tomato-throwing
protesters.
Traffic was completely sealed off around the presidential palace on
Friday morning where Bush was meeting his Polish counterpart Aleksander
Kwasniewski, with regular police and riot troops surrounding the
grounds.
Police dogs were also patrolling the site and sharpshooters were
positioned on nearby rooftops.
On Monday police found 300 grammes (10.6 ounces) of TNT, metal tubes and
wires across the street from the central Warsaw hotel where Bush will
stay overnight but authorities said the explosives were unrelated to the
president's visit.
Despite generally warm sentiment towards Washington in Warsaw,
anti-globalisation protestors have vowed to greet the US president with
a cream pie in the face and have already blanketed the city center with
"BUSH STOP" and "Bush Wanted" placards.
Polish security agents held a training session earlier this week to
practice protecting high-ranking officials from objects thrown by
protestors, a favorite tactic of local activists who managed to hit
former US president Bill Clinton with an egg during his visit last
month.
During a simulated attack with tomatoes on Tuesday, guards leapt to
catch the projectiles while others created an anti-missile shield over
the intended target with an umbrella, local media reported.
A coalition of Polish leftists, green and anti-globalisation groups
planned to stage at least two demonstrations against Bush on Friday.
On Friday afternoon activists planned to march under the banners "STOP
BUSH" and "Toxic Texan" in front of Warsaw University's library, where
Bush was to deliver a major policy speech on the future of Europe.
A demonstration was also planned outside the presidential palace where
Bush and First Lady Laura Bush will be the guests of honour at a state
dinner.
A banner draped outside the offices of the extreme-left PPS party
located near the presidential palace urged: "The world for the people
and not for Bush!"
The authorities have declined to reveal how many police are on duty to
protect Bush.
The US president will leave Poland on Saturday morning for Slovenia,
where he is due to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
**********J U S T I N************
Reuters. 15 June 2001. Anti-Bush Protests.
Around 200 demonstrators burned pro-U.S. banners in Warsaw Friday to
protests against President Bush's visit to Poland.
Warsaw police had to separate anti-globalization andenvironmentalist
campaigners from Bush's supporters after the anti-American activists
grabbed and burned a pro-Bush banner praising U.S. plans for a missile
defense shield.
Student protesters in Warsaw waved anti-U.S. banners, with one reading
"Bush into space, rockets into the trashcan" and another "Bush -- a
death sentence for the planet," referring to his rejection of the Kyoto
Treaty to cut global warming by reducing the emission of greenhouse
gases.
But the campaigners were kept away from the president as he entered
Warsaw's University Library to deliver a foreign policy speech, the
keynote address of his five-nation inaugural tour of Europe.
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