A victims' campaigner was arrested today after refusing to leave a hotel close to the Northern Ireland peace talks.
Mr Willie Frazer was bundled into a police van by officers after a row flared at the media centre near Leeds Castle, Kent, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair is trying to strike a deal to restore the power-sharing Executive in Belfast.
Mr Frazer, director of the south Armagh group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), had resisted attempts by staff at the Ramada Hotel in Hollingbourne to get him off the premises.
As he was driven off, police said he had been arrested to prevent a breach of the peace.
A wedding party watched on in disbelief as the brief struggle happened.
Mr Frazer, who also lost two uncles and two cousins during the bloodshed in Northern Ireland, was angered by what he viewed as special treatment for Sinn Féin representatives using the facilities.
He shouted: "What about the provos?" As police attempted to defuse the situation and get him to leave, the campaigner insisted: "You will have to arrest me."
The activist's researcher, Mr William Wilkinson, claimed republicans and the authorities did not want them to be there.
"We came to Leeds Castle to get the victims issue raised and this is how they deal with a peaceful protest."
An Northern Ireland Office spokesman categorically denied it was in any way involved in the move to eject Mr Frazer.
PA