George W Bush`s motorcade lurched through the largest inaugural protests since the 1970s on Saturday, enduring thousands of protesters who hurled insults, bottles, tomatoes and an egg. Protesters clashed briefly with police clad in riot gear at a few flash points while Bush remained inside his armoured stretch car for most of the parade up a soggy, cold Pennsylvania Avenue. Police ordered the motorcade to slow in anticipation of some protests, and then to speed through others.
A couple of protesters threw bottles and tomatoes before the presidential limousine arrived, and one hurled an egg that landed near the motorcade, the secret service said. But the protesters managed little else to interrupt the festivities in the face of a massive show of 7,000 police officers. As the day grew darker and colder, authorities had arrested only six people and activists began to disperse, said Terrance W Gainer, executive assistant chief of police.
One of them was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after slashing tyres and trying to assault an officer, Gainer said. ‘Hail To The Thief’, read one sign along the parade route questioning the legitimacy of Bush`s election win in Florida. Other protesters sported buttons declaring, ‘Illegitimate Son of a Bush’.
Bureau Report