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Journalists snub Straw and Spanish premier
Journalists in Madrid have snubbed Jack Straw and Spain's prime minister in protest at the death of a Spanish cameraman killed in a Baghdad hotel by a US tank shell.
Premier Jose Maria Aznar arrived at the Senate to find the floor outside the chamber littered with notebooks and cameras and up to 40 journalists standing in stony silence.
Mr Aznar supports the war, but Spain has not sent troops to fight alongside the US and British forces operating in Iraq.
Meanwhile, about 20 reporters walked out of a press conference in the capital featuring Mr Straw just one question.
One Spanish journalist had asked Mr Straw's counterpart Ana Palacio about reports US forces had declared the Palestine Hotel - where most foreign reporters were staying - a military target 48 hours prior to the blast that killed Jose Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk.
Mr Palacio was evasive, referring to comments by Spain's Defence Minister Federico Trillo, who last night recommended Spanish journalists leave Baghdad because the city had grown too dangerous.
Mr Couso was killed at the hotel on Tuesday. Another Spanish reporter, Julio Anguita Parrado, died on Monday when an Iraqi missile hit a US military position south of the capital.
Mr Aznar was targeted again later today when a group of photographers who usually gather round to film him taking his seat in parliament suddenly turned their backs on him and held up photos of Mr Couso. Opposition MPs clapped.
© Associated Press
[ 04-09-2003, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]