08:26 PM CST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was taken into custody by police in the House gallery Tuesday night just before President Bush's State of the Union address.

Police escorted Sheehan from the visitors' gallery above the House chamber after causing a disruption, said a Capitol Police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the incident were sketchy.

AP

Cindy Sheehan was removed from President Bush's State of the Union address.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., had invited Sheehan to the address as her guest.

"I'm proud that Cindy's my guest tonight," Woolsey said in an interview before the speech. "She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops home from Iraq."

Woolsey offered Sheehan a ticket to the speech -- Gallery 5, seat 7, row A -- earlier Tuesday while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union" press conference by CODEPINK, a group promoting the end of the Iraq war.