WASHINGTON - About 80 angry Irish demonstrators shouting slogans followed Baroness Thatcher when she retraced the steps of Winston Churchill through the town of Fulton, Missouri yesterday, writes Conor O'Clery.
The former British premier was in the Mid West town to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mr Churchill's speech about an Iron Curtain descending on Europe.
Witnesses said that there was little or no security presence between Mrs Thatcher and the demonstrators, who were protesting against the hunger strike deaths in Northern Ireland when she was prime minister. The protesters said they were from Chicago, St Louis and Milwaukee. At one point local citizens formed a barrier between them and Mrs Thatcher out of concern for her safety. One demonstrator identified himself as a former prisoner who had served time in Northern Ireland for killing an RUC man.