One of President George W. Bush's neighbours will allow use of his land by dozens of war protesters who have camped in roadside ditches the past 11 days, giving them more room and halving their distance from Bush's ranch.

Fred Mattlage, an Army veteran, said he sympathizes with the demonstrators whose makeshift camp off the winding, two-lane road leading to Bush's ranch has angered most residents. Mattlage said the group will be safer on his corner 0.4-hectare lot.

"I just think people should have a right to protest without being harassed," Mattlage said Tuesday night.

"And I'm against the war. I don't think it's a war we need to be in."

Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, California, started the vigil August 6 to honour her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq last year.

Sheehan has vowed to remain through Bush's month-long ranch visit unless he meets with her and other grieving families.

Mattlage's Monday night offer, accepted by protesters on Tuesday, will put them about a mile from Bush's ranch, said Hadi Jawad of the Crawford Peace House, which is helping the group.

Demonstrators said they would start moving their tents, anti-war banners and portable toilets to the new site Wednesday and hope to have the new camp set up in time for a dusk candlelight vigil.

The vigil will be one of about 1,000 to be held across the country, an effort organized by liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org Political Action, TrueMajority and Democracy for America.

Larry Mattlage, a distant cousin of Mattlage's who owns nearby land, fired a shotgun twice into the air on Sunday but no one was injured. But Fred Mattlage does not share his cousin's frustrations with the group.

For more than a week, the rural area has been a traffic nightmare as the camp attracted hundreds more protesters as well as Bush supporters holding counter-rallies.

A resident was arrested Monday night after authorities say he ran over hundreds of small wooden crosses bearing names of fallen US soldiers.

Source: China Daily