Thousands rally in Capital to protest Bush visit

Thousands of protestors assembled at the historic Ram Lila grounds to denounce the US President's visit.

Tens of thousands of people shouting anti-Bush and anti-America slogans on Thursday converged in the Capital to protest US President George W Bush's visit to the country.

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Waving red flags, holding placards and banners reading "Killer Bush Go Back" and "Bush War Criminal", thousands of protestors assembled at the historic Ram Lila grounds to denounce the US President's visit.

Singing songs and beating drums, students, Left party workers and sympathisers, writers and farmers from across the country are taking part in the rally, called by the 'Committee Against Bush Visit', a joint platform formed to protest the Presidential visit.

Lashing out at Bush, Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy said "he was a war criminal responsible for bloodshed and death in Iraq and its continued devastation."

"He has destroyed the economies of several countries and he is here to wreck our economy," she said.

She said Bush had created an affluent class, pushing crores of people into abyss of poverty.

Announcing the protest proceedings, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat had earlier said that the "welcome to Bush will be very warm, so warm that he will feel the heat."