BLACKBURN (UK), April 1: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Muslim leaders in north-western England on Saturday in a trip during which protesters expressed anger that an architect of the Iraq invasion was on their home turf.

About 300 protesters chanted slogans such as ‘Condoleezza Rice Go Home’ and ‘No War’ while Ms Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw spoke with Muslim leaders at the town hall. The protesters’ noisy cries were clearly audible at a news conference after the meeting.

Ms Rice waved at supporters and protesters alike on her arrival and seemed undeterred by the demonstrators, who were kept behind barriers by dozens of police, some on horseback.

“They (protesters) have their freedom of speech and I’m glad they did it,” said Mayor Yusef Janvirmani, who shook hands with protesters before formally welcoming Ms Rice.

The mayor, who opposes the occupation of Iraq, said Ms Rice was welcome in his town and her visit would be good for the region’s economy. Any publicity was good publicity, he said.

Ms Rice told the news conference she thought she had been ‘very warmly Welcomed’ to Blackburn and had enjoyed her visit.

Mr Straw, asked if he was embarrassed by all the protests, said he hoped journalists would also notice the ‘strength of positive feeling and affection’ for his American guest.

Ms Rice, invited to Mr Straw’s constituency after he visited her home state of Alabama last year, has particularly irked Blackburn’s Muslims in a visit that produced more photos of angry protesters than the positive pictures Ms Rice’s image-makers were hoping for.

Muslims make up around 20 per cent of the former cotton town’s population and many were clearly angered by Mr Straw’s invitation to America’s top diplomat.

INVITATION WITHDRAWN: Ms Rice had been due to visit a mosque in Blackburn until its governors withdrew their invitation out of fear the occasion would be hijacked by demonstrators.