Mocking Attack on Charles : Protester Creates Flap With 6-Foot Model of Prince’s Ears

A dozen students booed Prince Charles and Princess Diana and made fun of Charles’ ears as the royal couple visited an urban renewal project in this industrial city.

Police briefly detained one man who erected a large pair of wooden ears on the roof of his three-story home a few yards from an apartment the prince and princess visited Tuesday.

Geoff Dodds, a former Labor Party councilman, said police detained him after he refused to take down the 6-by-3-foot ears. He said he loaned the insistent policemen a screwdriver so they could remove the ears.

The protesters, in a second-story window overlooking the crowd, waved placards saying “Go Home Parasites” and “Hello Big Ears.”

One woman yelled “parasites” repeatedly until police intervened.

The royal couple, who were greeting crowds who turned out to welcome them as they toured the area, appeared unmoved by the rumpus.

Many residents, upset at the demonstration, booed the students and threw paper at them.

Linda Richardson, whose apartment Charles and Diana visited, said the students were leftists from out of town. “What they did spoiled the wonderful reception everyone else in the area wanted to give the royal couple,” she said.