'Stop Bush' posters for Dublin

Posters calling on voters to back anti-war candidates in the upcoming local and European elections will appear in the greater Dublin area next week after the Irish Anti-War Movement registers its Stop Bush campaign as a political party.

The group has not been allowed to put up its posters because of littering rules introduced in January by Dublin City Council and other local authorities. The rules ban posters and other notes.

However, election posters put up within stated periods around election day are exempt. A spokesman for Dublin City Council said the Stop Bush campaign could be registered as early as Tuesday and its posters could appear immediately.

The campaign is opposed to the war in Iraq and the visit here later this month of the US president, Mr Bush. It is organising a series of protests around the country on June 25th and 26th, when Mr Bush will be in the Republic for an EU-US summit. However, its posters will have to be taken down one week after the June 11th election.

The campaign is also appealing to voters to support candidates in the forthcoming elections who have openly stated their opposition to the war in Iraq. It believes a referendum should be held to decide whether US war planes should be allowed use Shannon Airport as a stop-over.

Mr Richard Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti War Movement said the group believed the new anti-littering laws were a means of "closing down our rights". He said registering the campaign as a political party was the only way around the ban on its posters

"This is an unprecedented action as no-one has ever registered in an election campaign outside the political parties in a campaign," he said.

The Stop Bush protests later this month will include demonstrations in Dublin, Shannon and one at Dromoland Castle, where the US president is expected to stay during his trip here. The campaign is also holding a fundraising concert on June 19th at the Point Depot, Dublin.

The Fianna Fáil TD Mr Barry Andrews said the move by the group meant that Mr Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, who is a Labour Party candidate in Dún Laoghaire, would now become a member of a second political party. He said the Labour leader Mr Pat Rabbitte had been in "a myriad" of parties but "even pompous Pat has never been a member of two political parties at the one time".