PROTESTERS have warned that the Menwith Hill spy base could be a strategic target for terrorists seeking revenge for bombing raids in Afghanistan.

As US forces launched their third night of attacks on the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida training camps, opponents gathered at the base, near Harrogate.

The group, whose weekly protest usually concentrates on opposing US President George Bush's plans for a Star Wars programme, last night carried banners calling for a stop to the military strikes which started on Sunday.

Campaigner Anni Rainbow said: "This is a US base and one involved in communications. It is always a potential target, but at times of heightened troubles it becomes more so."

The small group held US flags with messages scrawled on them, including "an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind" and "not in my name". They were watched by more than 15 police officers at the base's entrance, some of which were armed. A larger demonstration outside the base has been planned for Saturday, to link in with anti-war protests across the nation.

"We all grieve for the lives that were lost in New York," said Ms Rainbow. "It was a terrible thing that happened, but there is a fear that there is more terror yet to come. The people of Afghanistan are experiencing it as we speak. We have got to look for other ways to deal with this."

A public meeting tomorrow will debate the impact of the Son of Star Wars defence system on North Yorkshire in the wake of the New York terrorist atrocity. The system aims to develop technology which would allow the US to shoot enemy missiles from the skies - and could use bases at Menwith Hill and Fylingdales, near Whitby.

"Experts and common sense underline the point that there is no way in which National Missile Defence could have prevented the suicidal acts of pure terror which struck New York and Washington," said a spokesman for meeting organisers the Scarborough and Fylingdales Action Network (SFAN).

Speakers will also discuss if the two bases will become targets for international terrorism.

The meeting takes place at the Friends Meeting House in Woodland Ravine, Scarborough, at 7.30pm.

Updated: 11:41 Wednesday, October 10, 2001