The Longbow Papers

ATLANTA, Jan. 15 - President Bush made a swing through the South on Thursday with an appeal to black voters, but encountered emotional protests when he stopped here to lay a wreath at the grave of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Mr. Bush was met by hundreds of demonstrators when he arrived at The King Center to mark the 75th anniversary of Dr. King's birth. He was shielded from their view by a row of transit-authority buses with police officers in riot gear atop them, according to the pool reporter who accompanied the president into the center.

But the chants and boos of the protesters were audible as Mr. Bush, accompanied by Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and his sister, Christine King Farris, approached the crypt, laid the wreath and paused briefly in prayer before leaving without making any public remarks.

Outside, the protesters chanted "Bush go home" and "Peace, not war."

Before Mr. Bush's arrival for the 15-minute stop, some of the protesters broke through barriers around the center. Two arrests were made, the Atlanta police said, and the incident prompted the authorities to place the buses between the demonstrators and the president.

The White House had arranged for Mr. Bush to stop at Dr. King's grave on a day when the president was scheduled to be in Atlanta for a fund-raiser. Sheriee Bowman, a spokeswoman for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the group respected the president's right to pay tribute to Dr. King. But she suggested that the civil rights organization saw Mr. Bush's presence as politically motivated.

"We question the integrity of the timing of the move because last year at this time he took a stand against affirmative action, the Michigan case, which is part of Dr. King's legacy," Ms. Bowman said, referring to the Supreme Court case that considered the use of race in college admissions.