Catcalls For Kissinger

Dozens of protesters waving an effigy of Henry Kissinger banged drums and chanted "war criminal" as the former U.S. secretary of state arrived to address a business convention in London on Wednesday.

Kissinger, who is resisting a request by Spain for questioning about his alleged involvement in a plot in the 1970s and 1980s to eliminate Latin American dissidents, ignored the protesters and others who staged a sit-down demonstration on the sidewalk demanding an end to globalization.

Delivered in a chauffeur-driven Jaguar, Kissinger walked through a side entrance of the Royal Albert Hall, where he was to address the Institute of Directors later in the day.

Kissinger's appearance has caused controversy among civil rights groups and left-wing lawmakers in Britain, who question his record and his refusal to cooperate with investigations into crimes committed under military dictatorships in South America. Kissinger also has declined to testify in a lawsuit against him in the United States related to his activities as former secretary of state.

Britain on Tuesday turned down a Spanish judge's request for permission to question Kissinger during his visit to London.

Judge Baltasar Garzon has now approached Washington directly for leave to question the former secretary of state in connection with "Operation Condor," a plot by former military dictatorships in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to persecute and eliminate opponents.

Kissinger, who was former U.S. President Richard Nixon's national security adviser from 1969 to 1973, and secretary of state from 1973 to 1977, is not a suspect in the case.

Britain said Kissinger refused to make any declarations on the allegations and noted that under British law "it is not possible to take declarations from witnesses without their consent."

Garzon, a National Court magistrate, is investigating accusations against former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet of genocide and international terrorism. He is also probing the disappearance of hundreds of Spanish citizens in Argentina during the military rule from 1976 to 1983.

Separately Wednesday, a British political activist failed a second time to have Kissinger arrested on war crimes charges.

Bow Street Magistrates' court in London refused to grant Peter Tatchell's application for an arrest warrant against Kissinger under the Geneva Convention.

Tatchell's application alleged that while Kissinger was Nixon's national security adviser and a U.S. secretary of state in 1973-1977, "he commissioned, aided and abetted and procured war crimes in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia."

District Judge Nicholas Evans, who refused a similar request by Tatchell on Monday, said an arrest warrant could only be issued by Britain's chief prosecutor, the director of public prosecutions.