Thursday, October 25, 2007

Protester Waves Blood-Colored Hands in Rice’s Face

(Reuters) - An anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted "war criminal!", but was pushed away and detained by police.

Rice, an architect of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, appeared unfazed by the incident, which occurred when she entered a House of Representatives meeting room to testify at a hearing on U.S. Middle East policy.

"Out!," shouted the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, Rep. Tom Lantos, as police moved in to hustle the woman protester away.

Lantos, a California Democrat, also demanded the removal of several other demonstrators from the Code Pink organization, an anti-war group that often disrupts hearings on Capitol Hill.

"What are you doing, what are you doing?" the protesters screamed as police dragged them away.

Capitol Police said later three people were arrested and charged with disruption of Congress.