Angry blacks plan protests, lawsuits

WASHINGTON - Civil rights groups voiced outrage yesterday over the United States Supreme Court's ruling in favour of George W. Bush in the presidential race and pledged mass protests and lawsuits over alleged black voter exclusion.

Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Kweisi Mfume blasted the high court decision not to allow a recount of votes in Florida, which dealt a final blow to Democrat Al Gore's White House race.

Mfume, president of the powerful National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), said he was extremely disappointed by the court's decision, which had "handed over" the election to Bush without due process.

"The NAACP believes unequivocally that this issue of voter suppression and voter intimidation has severely affected this election, its outcome and the electoral process."

Mfume said blacks were angered that their votes had not been counted and the NAACP, the nation's largest and oldest civil rights group, would seek urgent remedies, both in court and in Congress, to make sure this "nightmare" never happened again.

"Anything short of a collective condemnation of what took place ... will only foster a deeper belief in the minds of the people that this nation does not care about them and their right to vote," Mfume said.

Jackson charged that blacks, who traditionally vote Democrat, had votes taken away from them by a range of voter irregularities in Florida and elsewhere.

He said mass protests would be held across America to coincide with either Martin Luther King Day on January 15, to commemorate the slain civil rights leader, or January 20, Inauguration Day, when Bush will take office.

- REUTERS

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