Many of them were locals from Straw's constituency of Blackburn, a former cotton town in the industrial northwest with a 20 percent Muslim population. Straw invited Rice to the area after he toured her home state of Alabama last year.

The trip has been unpopular among some Muslims and left wing activists, who have already persuaded a mosque in the town to withdraw its invitation to her.

"The Muslim population is very angry. She's not welcome in Blackburn," said Suliman, one of the demonstrators outside Pleckgate school, where Rice met young pupils.

"My message to Rice and Straw is that they should get all their troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan," said the 61-year-old Muslim, who declined to give his surname.

"How many lives per gallon?" asked one of the placards held aloft, in reference to the U.S. invasion of oil-rich Iraq which many Britons opposed.

Rice played down the protests, saying everyone had the right to vent their feelings.

"I would say to those who wish to protest: 'by all means'," she said during a visit to a British Aerospace factory on the outskirts of the town. "I've seen it in every city I've visited in the United States. I'm not surprised. People have strong views."

SYMPATHY FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

Rice was due to speak later on U.S. foreign policy in the somewhat incongruous setting of Blackburn Rovers' soccer stadium and was then due to travel to Liverpool, where she will attend a concert and visit a performing arts center founded by former Beatle Paul McCartney.

She arrived in Britain late on Thursday from Paris and, before that, Berlin, where she discussed the next steps in dealing with Iran's nuclear program with officials from Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China.

The talks come a day after the U.N. Security Council issued a "presidential statement" urging Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment program, which can produce fuel for atom bombs.

While Rice and Straw have both had tough words to say about Iran, they confined themselves on Friday to expressing their sympathies to the victims of an overnight earthquake which killed at least 66 people in the west of the country.

"(It's) very shocking, with what seems to be a large loss of life," Straw said. "Our hearts and our prayers go out to those who have lost loved ones."

Rice's trip is expected to be heavy on photo opportunities and light on discussion, as was Straw's trip to the American south in October.

Among other things, it will give Rice a chance to indulge her passion for The Beatles.

Not only is she visiting the band's home city, she is also touring the town which inspired one of their more curious lyrics.

"I read the news today, oh boy. 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire," run the words from the song "A Day in the Life." John Lennon wrote the words after seeing a newspaper headline about the poor state of roads in Blackburn.

"I never understood that Beatles song," Rice said earlier this month when asked about her forthcoming trip. "Perhaps now I'll get the chance."