Five arrested for accosting Rice

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Five members of a feminist anti-war group were arrested for disrupting a congressional committee meeting and accosting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice was attending the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on U.S. Middle East policy Wednesday when the women barged in, The Washington Times reported Thursday.

Some of the women carried signs that said "Blood on your hands," while the leader of the group had smeared her palms with red paint. The woman was captured in UPI photographs yelling with her arms around, but not touching, Rice, who maintained her composure.

U.S. Capitol Police arrested the woman, 51-year-old Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz of Los Angeles, and charged her with disorderly conduct, defacing of government property and assault on a federal officer, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider.

The defacing charge was a result of red paint smeared on walls as the screaming woman was taken out of the hearing room, the report said.

The other four women face various other charges, including unlawful conduct and disruption of Congress, the report said.