Shoes and words fly as Canadians protest Bush at Calgary speech

As a center of Canada's oil industry, Calgary – in the relatively conservative province of Alberta – would seem to be an ideal place for George W. Bush to give his first post-presidential speech.

But Bush was greeted by more than the 1,500 business people who paid as much as $315 to hear him speak Tuesday. Plenty of shoes were thrown as at least 100 protesters gathered and chanted "war criminal," angry that Bush chose Calgary for his first speech after leaving the White House in January. At least two demonstrators were hauled away by police after brief skirmishes.

The footwear was tossed at an effigy of the 43rd U.S. president outside the conference center where Bush spoke at a luncheon, said Colette Lemieux of the Canadian Peace Alliance.

Some 200 protesters from across the country had gathered for the demonstration against Bush's invasion of Iraq and rendition of terror suspects, she said in a telephone interview with AFP.

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