@@ 82-year-old activist SHITS on 'Jack Straw' @@

Xinhuanet
September 29, 2005


Bliar apologizes to 82-year-old anti-war activist who called Jack Straw a "liar"

Walter Wolfgang highlights deeper disquiet


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Walter Wolfgang, 82, who dared called Jack Straw a liar is held under "terrorist law"


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Photos: Labor party conference


London -- British Prime Minister Tony Bliar was forced to make a "humiliating
apology" on Thursday to a 82-year-old activist expelled from Labor's conference for
heckling over the Iraqi war.

The man, Walter Wolfgang, a party member for 57 years, was bundled out of Labor
Party's annual conference in England's southcoast city of Brighton by stewards after
shouting "nonsense" as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw defended Britain's role in the
Iraq war.
Tony Bliar was quoted by the Independent newspaper on Thursday as saying: "I'm really
sorry about it.

"I wasn't in the conference center at the time myself. It is difficult, the stewards
are volunteers, they are not quite sure how to deal with a situation like that and,
of course, you should deal with it differently and I'm really sorry for it and it
must have been upsetting for him", said Bliar.

Tony Bliar later insisted that free speech was not being stifled at the Labor
conference, even though there was no formal debate on the Iraq war at this week's
gathering in Brighton.

When asked why the 82-year-old had apparently been briefly arrested under the
Terrorism Act after he was manhandled out of the conference center, Bliar said: "My
understanding is that his delegate's credentials showed he had been ejected before
and he had to wait while that was checked out".

Liberal Democrat President Simon Hughes said the incident betrayed a streak of
authoritarianism in the Labor Party.

"Here's a conference with the Foreign Secretary tackling some of the most
controversial issues of the day and people aren't allowed to stay in their seats if
they shout any protest, even restrained protest", said Hughes.

The apparently heavy-handed tactics -- another delegate who protested at Wolfgang's
treatment was also ejected -- dominated newspaper headlines on Thursday, far more so
than Jack Straw's speech itself.

Labor's five-day conference has proved a far cry from a celebratory affair. "People
criticize us over Iraq all the time", Bliar said.

The event has also been dominated by speculation as to when Bliar will step down and
who will take over from him.

The prime minister has said he would not seek a fourth term in office and would step
down as Labor leader and prime minister ahead of the next general election, which
must take place before May 2010.

But allies indicated after his speech that this may mean resignation in three or more
years' time, rather than the 18 months which Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon
Brown, who is considered the overwhelming favorite to take over, is thought to favor.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/29/content_3564028.htm


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