Protesters Interrupt Bush at Independence Day Ceremony
Friday , July 04, 2008
Protesters made it hard to hear President Bush Friday as he welcomed new citizens and marked Independence Day at the home of Thomas Jefferson.
As is the tradition each Fourth of July, a naturalization ceremony was held at Monticello in Charlottesville , Va. This year, 76 immigrants from 30 different countries came to take the oath of citizenship.
But Bush repeatedly was interrupted as he welcomed the guests.
"That man is a fascist!" one protester yelled. Another swore at him.
The protesters later were removed from the ceremony by law enforcement officials.
"To my fellow citizens to be — we believe in free speech in the United States of America ," Bush said when the protesters started shouting.
To the din of more yelling, Bush discussed Jefferson ’s legacy as he introduced the citizens.
"We honor Jefferson’s legacy by aiding the rise of liberty in lands that do not know the blessings of freedom, and on this Fourth of July we pay tribute to the brave men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America ," he said.
"We also honor Jefferson 's legacy by welcoming newcomers to our land, and that is what we’re here to celebrate today."
More than 3,000 citizens have taken the oath at Monticello on Independence Day since 1963.
© Associated Press. All rights reserved.
US drops Mandela from terrorist list
Posted
The United States has removed former South African president Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) from a three-decade old immigration watch list for possible terrorists.
In time for the anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner's 90th birthday on July 18, President George W Bush signed a bill on Tuesday (local time) which effectively ended a system in which Mr Mandela had to get special certification from the US Secretary of State that he is not a terrorist in order to visit the United States .
Now Mr Mandela and members of the ANC will be able to simply apply for visas to travel to the US , the State Department said.
"Today the United States finally has removed from its legal code a vestige of that time of collective insults against human dignity," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said, one of the bill's supporters.
"The label of 'terrorist' will no longer be affixed to associates of the ANC - among them one of the world's great heroes, Nelson Mandela.
"Our country stands with those who struggled to bring the reprehensible system of apartheid to an end."
Mr Mandela won the Nobel peace price in 1993, and was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
The original purpose of the law, introduced during the 1980s while Ronald Reagan was president, was to fight terrorism.
In April, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged a Senate committee to remove the restrictions on the ANC party, calling it a "rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa , not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela."
- AFP
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