BY PIP HINMAN
SYDNEY Protestors at the emergency rally on March 20 didn't miss an opportunity to tell NSW Premier Bob Carr what they thought of his tame-cat position on the Iraq war when they spotted his limousine stuck in traffic near John Howard's office in the CBD.
About 20 protesters surrounded Carr's car shouting No war! and No 'anti-terror' laws!, managing to decorate his pristine white vehicle with a spot of red. This was despite the ALP's ubiquitous peace placards dominating the front of the march, in what many argued was a last ditch election stunt.
People have been angered by Carr's refusal to be drawn on the war during the NSW election campaign beyond stating it was not a state issue. Meanwhile, Carr has made law and order and anti-terror laws the central focus of his re-election campaign.
Protestors were also reacting to Carr's response to a very popular protest in which two imaginative protesters scaled Sydney's most famous icon the Opera House to paint No War in red on the highest sail. Carr was palpably angry after discovering his new security laws had failed and pronounced that security would be tightened.
From Green Left Weekly, March 26, 2003.
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