NO ROOM FOR "WAR CRIMINAL" IN AUSTRALIA

There is no room for Rummy down under.

Protesters turned out yesterday in Adelaide, Australia and called United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a war criminal and demanded he go home. The rally also called for the freeing of Australian terror suspect David Hicks from Guantanamo Bay jail and chanted: "Rummy go home to your mummy".

Rumsfeld is in Adelaide for the annual Australian and US ministerial consultations, known as AUSMIN.

Australian Democrats SA leader Sandra Kanck said the rally was originally intended to protest at the proposed new terror laws. "We would not need terror laws if our Prime Minister had not tied us to the coat tails of (US President) George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld," she said. "I have been delighted to hear much sedition here today and I have been delighted to see placards that are saying seditious things. But by Christmas this may not be allowed in our democracy."

South Australian Greens MP Kris Hanna said Rumsfeld was a symbol of that power and money which runs the United States and Australia. "They are willing to kill, they are willing to murder innocent civilians by the tens of thousands to exploit the resources of other countries and sacrifice even their own soldiers for these goals of war and expropriation."

The protesters marched from Parliament House down King William Street to Victoria Square, stopping peak hour traffic. It was reported that one person was removed and then later arrested by police for disorderly behavior, after a clash with a sole pro-US demonstrator.

More than 500 police officers were stationed in the city for Rumsfeld's two-day visit, with large concrete barricades surrounding the town hall and hotel where the guests stayed, closing nearby roads closed.

This morning police arrested three people who attempted to block Rumsfeld’s departure from the Adelaide Town Hall. The Australian reports that two men, aged 34 and 32, were arrested for disorderly behavior and a 17-year-old youth was arrested for theft and assault after allegedly stealing a police officer's hat. Another youth was removed from the area for breach of peace, police said.

One Australian newspaper reporter that Rumsfeld has been surrounded by a security detail, the size of which has never been seen in Adelaide. Sources: The Australian, Advertiser (Adelaide), Australian Broadcasting Corporation, IMC (Sydney)