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04/02/2006:

"Rice Finds British Muslims Want to Give Her an Earful"

...Whenever asked, Mr. Straw said the protesters were a small minority, and he even belittled them, saying at one point that he "could have done better" during his youthful days as a peace advocate. He added, "I can't say I am embarrassed in the least" by the reception his hometown gave to Ms. Rice. "If you did an opinion poll, you'd find that the vast majority of people in Blackburn agree with this trip."

On Friday, Ms. Rice had to content herself with a visit to the Liverpool school where Paul McCartney studied instead of meeting him — and had to face a short line of students wearing T-shirts that said: "No torture. No compromise." During a visit to a school in Blackburn, she was greeted with chants of "Condi Rice go home!"

Mr. Straw had advised Ms. Rice that she would probably be greeted by protesters on the trip, officials said, and she told him that such confrontations would not bother her. She gave several interviews to the British press, and almost every one was dominated by questions about her rough reception.

"People can say whatever they wish," she told The Lancashire Evening Telegraph. "I know where I stand. We made the right decision" in Iraq. "I was fully supportive of the decision."

During the news conference in Blackburn on Saturday, the boos and jeers rose to greet the secretaries as they spoke. Referring to the protesters at one point, Ms. Rice said, "They make my point. A democracy is the only system of government that allows people to be heard peacefully."
nytimes.com

Heard peacefully and ignored studiously. Ra! democracy.