Anti-war protest demands Rice "get out" of Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur - Fundamentalist Muslims and anti-war protesters Thursday demanded the United States' top diplomat Condoleezza Rice leave Malaysia and described Washington as the "greatest sponsor of terrorism".

Some 50 demonstrators armed with banners reading: "We see no role for Rice in Malaysia" chanted "Rice, Rice get out. We want peace," at a park near the venue of the Asian security talks she is attending this week.

The protesters included Malaysia's hardline Islamic opposition, other political parties and civil society groups.

The US secretary of state arrived here Thursday for the Asean Regional Forum which will be hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Friday.

Some two dozen anti-riot police watched over the demonstration, some on horseback and others armed with batons and tear-gas launchers.

Saari Sungib, a member of the hardline Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party, said that Rice was a war criminal who had failed to stop the military operations of its ally, Israel, in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

"We should not have invited her to Malaysia. We demand she leaves Malaysia immediately," he told AFP.

The coalition also issued a statement calling for an immediate end to the violence in the Middle East.

"We regret that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is invited to attend and address the Asean ministerial meeting. Her presence does not help world peace," it said.

"In fact her hardline and hawkish foreign policy has consistently promoted confrontation in many parts of the world."

Malaysia's fundamentalist opposition, the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party party, is also organising another protest at a mosque near the conference venue after Friday's Muslim prayers.

Agence France Presse