Pied-piper police guard Bush from protests
Sat Sep 4, 5:06 PM ET
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, United States (AFP) - Reporters who tail US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) around the world were surprised by a "Pied Piper"-like method for minimizing protests at a rally in the crucial state of Ohio.
Journalists aboard three buses, joined by a White House aide and a Secret Service agent, were initially relieved when a police officer directed the convoy to follow a police car, lights flashing, through traffic to the event.
But when the police vehicle pulled into a quiet church parking lot far from the school hosting the rally, everyone knew something was not quite right, so a campaign aide went to investigate, then asked the agent for help.
Surprised to hear whom they were dealing with, the police claimed that they had been ordered to divert all buses not clearly aligned with the Bush campaign to the parking lot, sources familiar with the conversation said.
Campaign aides denied any role in shunting protestors to the site, insisting that local law-enforcement handle such matters, not the Secret Service charged with the safety of the president.
Crowds at Bush events are carefully screened, with tickets issued primarily to campaign aides and loyal Republicans, and anyone suspected of being a heckler kept out.
Avowed protestors -- those carrying signs against Bush -- are often parked in what the campaign refers to as "free speech zones," kept at bay by police well out of earshot of the president's speech.