VIENNA, June 23: A peace activist remained for 18 hours unobserved by the elite security detail surrounding the hotel where US President George Bush stayed in Vienna this week, an Austrian newspaper reported on Friday.

The unarmed protester from Vienna told the daily Die Presse that he had climbed to the roof of the Iraq embassy, close by the Intercontinental Hotel.

The area around the hotel had been completely closed off to traffic — even pedestrians and cyclists — during Mr Bush’s visit from Tuesday evening to Wednesday for the annual EU-US summit.

The activist on the roof was undetected by police helicopters and also by heat sensors apparently because of the heat wave in the Austrian capital, the paper said.

The protestor said he had wanted to unfurl a banner for the organization “Resistance for peace” but he was finally found out by a worker who reported hearing a noise.

The peace activist had to raise his arms in surrender so he would not be jumped by the elite Cobra Austrian police unit.—AFP