1 Hundreds of protesters backed by about 100 municipal trucks disrupted domestic flights Monday in a protest against the noise and pollution from a new runway at Sydney's airport.
2 The protest leader, suburban Marrickville Mayor Barry Cotter, said more than 2,000 people joined in, but police estimated the crowd at about 400.
3 Garbage trucks and other municipal trucks from 11 nearby suburbs under the runway's flight path blared their horns and drove around the domestic terminal, blocking off traffic and hampering fliers.
4 Angry passengers had to drag their baggage hundreds of yards (meters) to the terminal, rather than be dropped off by cars, buses and cabs.
5 Cotter said the protest was a success. 'We didn't ever intend closing the airport - we just wanted to disrupt it.
6 'It was a peaceful demonstration and very effective as far as we're concerned.'
7 A spokesman for Qantas said the airline canceled four of the scheduled 31 flights, two to Brisbane and two to Melbourne.
8 Ansett donmestic airlines rescheduled one of its 37 flights, spokeswoman Jane Corbett-Jones said.
9 Most passengers interviewed who managed to trickle through the blockade admitted they had suffered some inconvenience but added that they agreed with the protesters' aims.

Hundreds of protesters backed by about 100 municipal trucks disrupted domestic flights Monday in a protest against the noise and pollution from a new runway at Sydney ' s airport .
backed by about 100 municipal trucks
Why were the protestors backed by municipal trucks?