Anti-Bush rally denied Central Park permit

Activists opposed to U.S. President George W. Bush are warning that a decision to ban a huge rally in New York's Central Park could result in clashes with police.

A judge on New York's state Supreme Court sided on Wednesday with the city in refusing to allow the rally, which was expected to attract 250,000 demonstrators on Sunday.

The city says it doesn't want the grass in the park torn up.

Central Park has been used for concerts and other events including a mass by the Pope, which have attracted hundreds of thousands to the park.

Several groups plan demonstrations and marches in the city on the eve of, and during, the Republican National Convention.

The city has given permission for a march past the convention centre in midtown Manhattan on Sunday, and has said the rally can be held on a blocked-off section of a highway along the Hudson River.

The activists say the highway is unacceptable and they say they'll cancel the rally if they don't get a permit to use the park.

That raises the spectre of huge numbers of demonstrators in the streets of New York with no place to gather.