Pro-Lebanese protesters fight with Australia police
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pro-Lebanese protesters fought with Australian police on Saturday as they tried to stop Prime Minister John Howard from leaving a hotel after he gave a speech critcising Hizbollah as a terrorist organisation.
About 200 protesters, many waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags and some carrying banners which read "Bush's War of Terror", rallied outside the hotel in the western Australian city of Perth. One Muslim woman chanted "We want peace".
Israel and Hizbollah have waged a war since July 12 when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. At least 462 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon.
Inside the hotel, Howard gave a speech at a political conference in which he attacked Hizbollah, reported local media.
"It's not some kind of inspirational liberation organisation, it's a terrorist organisation," said Howard, a strong U.S. ally.
When Howard tried to drive away from the hotel, some of the protesters attempted to stop his car from moving and fought with police, showed television footage. One protester carrying an Australian flag threw himself on the bonnet of Howard's car.
Police said two protesters were arrested.
Howard told the conference that there would be no lasting peace in the Middle East until both sides accepted the right for independent Israeli and Palestinian states.
"There must be an unconditional acceptance throughout the entire Arab world ... of Israel's right to exist in peace and stability, behind secure, internationally recognised boundaries," Howard said.
"There has to be an equally unconditional acceptance, including on the part of the Israelis, of the need and and the justice in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
"Until those two conditions are met there will never be a lasting settlement, there will never be lasting peace in the Middle East."
Copyright © 2010 Reuters
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