Photos - Protesters Arrested in Sydney After Cheney Arrives

Feb. 23 - Twelve people have been arrested and charged in Sydney during protests after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived for talks on Iraq and the war on terrorism.

Three women and a man were charged today after demonstrating outside the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Sydney today as Cheney addressed the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, according to a New South Wales state police statement. About 50 protesters gathered outside the hotel.

Seven men, aged 16 to 53, and a 26-year-old woman were arrested and charged last night after a protest in Sydney’s George Street, a main route through the city of 4.2 million, police said. They were among 250 people at Sydney’s Town Hall, police said.

Cheney will meet with Prime Minister John Howard, a U.S. ally in the Iraq war who has resisted calls to withdraw country’s 1,400 troops. The visit comes two days after the vice president met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, where he was greeted by shouts of Yankee go home'' from a loudspeaker outside the U.S. embassy and a controversy over Japan's defense minister terming the war amistake.’’

Some 68 percent of Australians oppose the war in Iraq, according to a Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper on Feb. 20.

U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Feb. 22 he will cut the number of troops Britain has in Iraq to 5,500 during the next few months from 7,100. Denmark will withdraw most of its 460 troops by August.

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