2 hours, 38 minutes ago
CRAWFORD, United States (AFP) - A high profile peace camp set up by anti-war activist
Cindy Sheehan is to move from the roadside outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch to a private property nearby following mounting hostilities with local residents.
But Sheehan, whose protest has come to symbolize rising anti-war sentiment among Americans, has insisted she will not abandon her demonstration until the president agrees to a meeting.
A source close to the activists at the camp said Sheehan has accepted an offer to move onto private land next to Bush's Prairie Chapel ranch following mounting tensions in recent days.
One man drove a sports utility truck over white crosses, planted by the activists and bearing the names of US soldiers killed in Iraq on Monday night. Some residents have sought a court order to stop the activists parking near the ranch.
Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, has also had a bad week with the news that her husband has filed for divorce.
But the 48-year-old said she would not leave. "What happened last night is very disturbing to all of us and to all Americans," she said of the vandalising of the crosses.
"We're trying to be good neighbors. We are cooperating with law enforcement officials," she added.
"If they want us to leave, they have to talk to their neighbor George W. Bush and tell him to talk to us."
The camp has been on the roadside since August 6.
Tensions started to rise on Sunday when a farmer neighbour of the president fired a shotgun in the air, in what many saw as a warning to the protesters.
The land that Sheehan is moving to is owned by a cousin of the farmer who fired the shots.
The driver of the pickup truck drove onto the grass verge in the dark late Monday to knock down some of the 500 crosses which had been placed by Sheehan's supporters. Police have arrested a local man.
But a group of residents of Crawford, the small town of 705 people nearest Bush's ranch, sought a court order on Tuesday to restrict parking in the area around the encampment, police said.
The judge in nearby Waco has 30 days to give a decision but police said six feet (two metres) on each side of the road is public land and anybody can park there unless it creates a hazard.
Sheehan has demanded to meet the president to make her demand that the 138,000 troops in Iraq be brought home. Her son is among about 1,850 American soldiers to have been killed in Iraq.
She has said she will remain at Crawford throughout Bush's five week summer holiday at his ranch and will then go to Washington to wait outside the White House if Bush continues to refuse.
Republican supporters staged a counter demonstration at the site at the weekend. They have since gone. Fifty activists take it in turns to man the peace camp with Sheehan.
Bush has said that he sympathises with Sheehan but will not talk with her. He met the woman in June 2004 after the death of her son who was killed in April 2004, five days after arriving in Baghdad. The president has met many of the families of troops killed in Iraq.
The president's refusal was reaffirmed Tuesday by White House deputy spokeswoman Dana Perino.
"He has met with her," she said. "One of the most cherished rights in America is the right of free speech and she has a right to express her views. He doesn't agree with her views but he respects her right to peacefully protest."
Sheehan's protest has come to symbolize the rise in anti-war sentiment among Americans. But it has taken a growing toll on her private life.
At the press conference, Sheehan refused to comment on reports that her husband had filed divorce papers last week. The two have live apart since June 1.
Her husband sought to end the 28-year marriage citing "irreconcilable differences," in divorce papers filed at Solano County District Court.
J/K
Linear Mode
