i Hundreds demonstrated today outside the British and US diplomatic missions to protest against Salman Rushdie's knighthood and the Bush administration.

Led by PAS, about 300 protesters gathered after Friday prayers at a mosque and marched to the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

"Go to hell Britain! Go to hell Rushdie!" they shouted as police in riot gear looked on.

The demonstrators then moved to the US embassy where the police presence was doubled and a water cannon truck was parked outside the heavily barricaded embassy.

"Go to hell US! Go to hell Bush!" they yelled, holding up signs saying "Support Hamas".

Seeking an answer

PAS Youth leader Salahudin Ayub said the protest was staged as the British High Commission has yet to respond to a memorandum handed over on June 20 opposing the author's knighthood for services to literature.

"We are seeking an answer from the British. We want to know the reason why Salman Rushdie ( left ) was given the title 'Sir'," he told AFP .

PAS was also protesting at what they believe is the Bush administration's hand in the crisis between Islamist group Hamas and the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, he said.

"We believe that what happened between Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian crisis was influenced by the US government," Salahudin said.

Rushdie's knighthood has drawn protests from Muslims worldwide, with rallies in Iran and Pakistan last week.

Rushdie is accused by some Muslims of blaspheming Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses which triggered an international furore when it was first published in 1988.

He has been living since then under the shadow of a death sentence imposed by Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which has never been formally revoked.

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