Police and troops in Ireland shut down roads and erected barbed-wire barricades yesterday to deter protesters from interrupting this weekend's summit between US President George W. Bush and European Union chiefs.

　　Hours before Bush's expected arrival in western Ireland, some 4,000 police and 2,000 soldiers - more than a third of the entire security forces of the Irish Republic - took up positions around Shannon Airport and the nearby summit venue, Dromoland Castle, a luxury hotel.

　　Both sides planned for today's brief summit to highlight several areas of agreement, and to sidestep the long-standing opposition of France and Germany, the dominant EU members, to the US-led occupation of Iraq.

　　But in Ireland, an officially neutral nation that has allowed US troops to use Shannon Airport as a major refueling point, criticism of Bush also runs high.

　　Locals contrast the sour mood with visits by four previous presidents - John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton - all of whom received rapturous welcomes in this traditionally pro-American nation.

　　"Sadly, there's no great welcome for President Bush," said the Reverend Tom Ryan, a Catholic priest in the town of Shannon. "The vast majority of people would not agree with the policies of the American government or President Bush."

　　Protest leaders styling themselves the "Stop Bush Campaign" say they planned to rally at least 20,000 people last night in Dublin, then travel at dawn today across the island to picket the summit and airport.

　　Today, Bush is scheduled to spend four hours talking and lunching with leaders of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 25-nation bloc, before leaving for another summit with NATO leaders in Turkey, when the interim Iraqi government's request for NATO assistance will top the agenda.

　　Jointly leading the EU delegation will be Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the bloc, and European Commission President Romano Prodi of Italy.

　　Irish officials say both sides hope to publish at least a half-dozen joint commitments on promoting stability in Iraq and peacemaking throughout the Middle East; combating terrorist threats; fighting the spread of AIDS and nuclear weapons technology; and ending civil war and famine in Sudan.

　　Meanwhile, Turkish police yesterday sought to ease concerns about security following bombings in Turkey's capital that killed four people ahead of a weekend visit by Bush and a NATO summit next week.

　　Authorities said militant leftists were suspected in Thursday's blast in Istanbul, which killed four people and wounded 14, and an attack earlier yesterday outside the Ankara luxury hotel that wounded three people, including two police officers.

　　"No one should feel panic or fear," Ramazan Er, the national police spokesman, told a press conference. "Our country has hosted many international meetings in previous years ... and our own security forces took the security measures for them."

　　Thursday's blasts were the latest in a series of explosions - most of them small, without casualties - ahead of a two-day NATO summit which starts on Monday. Bush arrives in Ankara tonight to meet with Turkish leaders before heading to the summit in Istanbul.

　　Police have been conducting regular spot checks throughout Turkish cities and destroyed suspicious packages on Thursday and yesterday in several Turkish cities.

　　(The Associated Press)