Protester throws shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (Shoe attack at Cambridge U.)

Times of London ^ | 02/02/09 | Ben Macintyre, Cambridge and Nico Hines

[TigerLikesRooster]

February 2, 2009

Protester throws shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Ben Macintyre, Cambridge and Nico Hines

A protester threw a shoe at Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, today as he delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University.

Mr Wen was coming to the last part of his address when a young Western-looking man with dark hair stood up, blew a whistle and shouted: “How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”

The man, who appeared to be in his early twenties, then took off his heavy shoe and threw it at the stage missing the Premier by a few feet.

“Stand up and protest, you're not challenging him,” he shouted in a European accent as he was bundled out of the room by security staff.

Mr Wen then reprimanded the protester as more security guards moved on to the stage before he finished his speech.

“This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK,” he said.

Shoe-throwing as an act of protest was popularised in December by Muntadhar al-Zeidi, an Iraqi journalist, who threw his brogues at George W. Bush, the former American president. He missed with both attempts but was arrested by Iraqi security forces.

Security was tight in the build up to the speech with scores of Chinese secret service agents monitoring the audience. The guests who heard Mr Jibao speak were searched and passed through metal detractors as they entered the room.

[chinaboy]

Always put youself in the other’s shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

[Moltke]

No doubt sponsored by some enterprising shoe maker...

[Zhang Fei]

Always put youself in the other’s shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

This wasn't directed at the Chinese people - it was directed at Wen Jiabao and the Communist Party. If you think of China and the Communist Party as inseparable, that's certainly your choice. But the rest of us know that China pre-existed the Communist Party by thousands of years. And China will probably continue to exist thousands of years after the Communist Party is extinct.

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[ponder life]

Always put youself in the other’s shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

I've learned that many are unable to (especially after so much time on the FR). The very people who are the most ready to string up the Iraqi journalist for throwing his shoes at Bush are the most gleeful about the shoes thrown at Wen Jiabao. It's a peculiar thing about human nature: that one could put a double standard upon someone and not see it as so.