A noisy band of anti-war protesters prompted House Democratic leaders to call an abrupt end to a Capitol Hill news conference discussing measures to tighten congressional ethics rules.

As the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, was briefing reporters, he was interrupted by a group of about a dozen peace activists yesterday, including a California woman whose son was killed in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan.

“De-escalate! Investigate! Troops home now!” the demonstrators shouted, as heard in video broadcast by Fox News.

“We’re going to keep going here,” Mr. Emanuel said, before giving up and retreating from the microphone in a hallway situated in the Cannon House Office Building.

Ms. Sheehan said Democrats were swept into office last November by voters seeking a reversal of the administration’s policies in Iraq and that Democratic Party leaders were dodging their responsibility to cut off funds for the fighting.

Mr. Emanuel and other Democratic leaders have said they will not consider cutting off funding for the war, but will hold hearings examining President Bush’s war policies.

The Iraq war is on Congress’s back burner for the moment as most lawmakers from both parties wait for Mr. Bush to announce a new strategy, which could involve sending 20,000 to 30,000 additional American troops to Baghdad.

The White House has said the president will make a major speech announcing his new policy in the next few weeks.