A PEACE protestor at the heart of demonstrations in London during George Bush's state visit says she has received hundreds of messages of support from people in Iraq.

A PEACE protestor at the heart of demonstrations in London during George Bush's state visit says she has received hundreds of messages of support from people in Iraq.

Mother-of-two Mell Harrison, is now back home in Mettingham, near Bungay, after receiving international media attention for her part in the protests during the American president's stay in London.

The 32-year-old helped build a statue of Mr Bush, which was toppled in a similar style to a statue of Sadam Hussein during the Iraqi war earlier this year.

She participated in an alternative state tour with fellow members of the Theatre of War group playing the Queen and Mr Bush.

She said: "It's nice to be back home and looking back it was absolutely crazy and just unbelievable. It was so nerve wracking building the statue and knowing that was going to go round the world and it was such a relief afterwards that everything worked.

"The whole thing has raised awareness of the peace movement in Britain and we have received messages of support from people in Iraq and Palestine."

Mell is keen to point out that the protest was not anti-American but anti aggressive American foreign policy supported by the British government.

Many of their supporters are American and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic – whose life the film Born on the Fourth of July is based – counted down the toppling of Mr Bush's statue in Trafalgar Square.

The 12-strong Theatre of War group was set up last January to grab people's attention about innocent people caught up in the Iraqi conflict and found the limelight after using puppets of innocent Iraqis at demonstrations all over Britain.

Mell, who lives with her partner Liam and their two boys aged six and eight, began protesting for animal rights in her teens before noticing human rights issues around the world.

She said: "I personally do this for my children and children around the world, and to show there are other ways than violence to get voices heard. I do not see the difference between whose bomb it is when innocent people die."

The theatre group, which also works with other peace groups using non-violent protests, is now working on a show about why they brought down the American president's statue.