About 100 angry protesters stomped on and burnt pictures of Tony Blair today as the former British prime minister addressed a business gathering in Malaysia.

protest against blair in kuala lumpur The anti-war campaigners shouted noisy slogans against Blair's involvement in the invasion of Iraq and threatened to throw shoes at him - an action considered a grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world - if he came near them.

The demonstrators, including Iraqis living in Malaysia, described Blair as a war criminal and said that he should be hauled up before an international court for the death of innocent Iraqi people.

protest against blair in kuala lumpur 2 "We oppose Tony Blair's presence in Malaysia. His hands are full of Iraqi blood. He must go to the grave," Amani Majid, 44 a student at a local university, told AFP .

Despite the protest, Blair gave a 40-minute speech to more than 3,000 participants in Petaling Jaya.

Success Resources, a company founded in Singapore, brought Blair to Malaysia as a sponsored speaker at the National Achievers Congress.

'He is a war criminal'

Police did not break up the protest as demonstrators held a few banners including: "Blair Murderer," and "Get out of Malaysia."

protest against blair in kuala lumpur 3 Blair, Britain's prime minister from 1997 to 2007, was then US president George W Bush's staunchest ally and sent British troops to Iraq in 2003.

Osama Abdul Karim, 30, an Iraqi student, said: "He is a war criminal. Blair should not come here to talk about business success.

"He destroyed the infrastructure in Iraq. He should be hit with a pair of shoes. What kind of democracy has he brought to Iraq?"

"I ran out of Iraq with my family in 2006. It is no longer a safe country to live," he added.

- AFP