Protesters begin with naked flourish as Republicans come to town

Protests and arrests have begun in New York, days before the start of the Republican convention, where President George W. Bush will be nominated for re-election in a city that voted overwhelmingly for his opponent four years ago.

About a dozen Aids activists stripped naked and stopped traffic outside New York's Madison Square Garden to demand that Bush help developing countries fight the epidemic.

They were taken away in handcuffs.

And police led two men away after they descended on ropes down the face of the Plaza Hotel to drop a huge banner displaying two opposing arrows - with "Truth" pointing one way, and "Bush" pointing in the opposite direction.

Security is ultra-tight in New York, which remains on high alert almost three years after 2800 people died at the World Trade Centre in the September 11 attacks.

The Bush Administration singled out the New York convention and the Democrats' nominating meeting in Boston last month as possible terrorist targets.

More volatile confrontations threatened, as demonstrators seemed bent on gathering in Central Park despite court rulings barring protests there. The anti-war Answer group - denied a permit for 75,000 people to rally in the park tomorrow - said they would gather there anyway.

Organisers of a march tomorrow against Bush Administration policies and the Iraq war - which organisers expect to bring more than 200,000 protesters past Madison Square Garden - said they expected people to go to the park afterward.

The New York Supreme Court this week denied protesters permission to rally in the park, siding with city officials who said they feared damage to the grass and that security could not be ensured.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, said yesterday people were welcome in the park but warned, "if somebody wants to break the law they are going to find the NYPD is going to enforce the law".

The wild card in the protests is whether there will be unannounced actions by self-styled anarchists, who disrupted a 1999 trade summit in Seattle.

A huge security operation is in place, including an intense police presence in the area surrounding the Garden, patrolling the skies above Manhattan and waters surrounding it.

Liberal commentator and comedian Al Franken suggested an easy form of protest for New Yorkers who did not want to leave the comfort of their apartments, calling for critics of Bush to open their windows and shout the classic New York "fuggedaboutit" the moment the President accepts the nomination.

- REUTERS