NEW YORK - Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist whose son was killed in the Iraq war, was arrested with three other protesters in New York on Monday after a rally with women from Iraq.

Cindy Sheehan, who became a peace activist after her son was killed in Iraq, is arrested in front the building which houses the American Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Monday, March 6, 2006 in New York. Sheehan and three other anti war activist were arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest after trying to deliver a letter to the American mission. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Sheehan became a central figure in the U.S. anti-war movement last summer after she camped outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch and has been arrested at least two other times at protests.

On Monday, she had joined a delegation of women from Iraq at the rally at the United Nations, urging the United Nations to help prevent civil war in Iraq.

About 20 protesters went to the U.S. mission to the United Nations to deliver a petition with 60,000 signatures seeking an end to the war. Nobody from the mission received them so Sheehan and three other American women sat down in front of the building, refused to leave, and were arrested.

A police spokesman said they were expected to be released later on Monday.

The Iraqi women plan to deliver a petition to the White House on Wednesday. Earlier they held a news conference at U.N. headquarters calling for the United States to withdraw its forces.

Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at Baghdad's Yarmook Teaching Hospital, wept as she told reporters of the hardships experienced by Iraqi women.

"U.S. occupation has destroyed our country, made it into a prison," she said. "Schools are bombed, hospitals are bombed."

"We thank you, Mr. Bush, for liberating our country from Saddam. But now, go out! Please go out!" she said.

Additional reporting by Irwin Arieff

© Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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