LOS ANGELES - A man who prompted protests by hanging an effigy of US Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin by a noose from his home at Halloween has removed the display because it was causing too much trouble.
Chad Michael Morrisette had dressed a mannequin to resemble the Alaska governor, complete with beehive hairstyle and her trademark glasses, and hung it by the neck from the eaves of his home in famously liberal West Hollywood.
In the run-up to next Tuesday's election, this triggered counter-protests and a visit by the US Secret Service, although officials concluded he had violated no law.
"It was just creating such a disturbance. There were helicopters circling overhead, counter-protesters," Jake Stevens, spokesman for West Hollywood mayor Jeffrey Prang, said in explaining why Mr Morrisette agreed to remove the effigy. Mr Morrisette also plans to take down a mannequin of Republican candidate John McCain which had protruded from the chimney surrounded in flames, Mr Stevens said.
"There was a huge mob scene, the whole thing became a life of its own," Mr Morrisette, a professional window display designer, told the Los Angeles Times. - ( Reuters)