UNITED NATIONS, July 22 (UPI) -- Two female demonstrators against the U.S.-installed Iraq Governing Council were pulled out of the U.N. Security Council chamber Tuesday.
The women shouted out against the newly-installed panel immediately after Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative to Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello completed his first report to the Security Council and before a member of the governing council Adnan Pachaci addressed the U.N. body.
Vieira de Mello had elaborated on Annan's formal report to the panel, calling for an early return to sovereignty for the Iraqi people, emphasizing the immediate need for their security. Annan welcomed the governing council; Vieira de Mello said it was "broadly representative of the various constituencies in Iraq."
One of the women identified herself as Nadia Benjamin, a founding member of San Francisco-based Occupationwatch.org.
"We urge the United Nations not to legitimize this (governing) council," Benjamin shouted as she was forcefully escorted away from the elegant chamber security officers to their offices. "The Iraqi people find it a fraudulent council and undemocratic. It will not lead to Iraqi self-rule. It's a puppet government and the United Nations should not go along with it."
