Irish Nobel Peace prize winner, Ms Mairead Corrigan Maguire, has been arrested along with more than 60 other people protesting this evening near the White House against the US-led war in Iraq.
Police handcuffed Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the prize in 1976 for peace activism in the Northern Ireland conflict, as well as Ms Jody Williams, a 1997 winner for her work to ban land mines, after they refused to leave Lafayette Park opposite the home of the US president.
The Nobel laureates were detained along with religious leaders and Vietnam-era protester Daniel Ellsberg as they sat in a circle in the park and chanted "Peace, shalom."
They held roses as well as gruesome posters showing civilian casualties from the war.
Before being taken away Ms Maguire said she planned to stage an anti-war protest each day outside the White House until April 18th, Good Friday.
"In Northern Ireland we were encouraged to resolve our problems with dialogue and I would like to see that happen here," added Ms Maguire, who said she had asked President George W Bush to meet her.
Ms Williams hugged Ms Maguire before they were both handcuffed and loaded into a police van.
"This is what our democracy looks like," shouted Ms Williams to reporters when she was handcuffed by police.
A spokesman for the US Parks Police said nine people had been arrested for crossing a police line opposite the White House and that the rest were held for protesting without a permit. "We expect them all to be released within a couple of hours," he said.