Dharamsala, February 3 – A protestor hurled a shoe at Chinese premiere Wen Jiabao who was nearing the end of his address on global economy at the world famous Cambridge University yesterday.
The shoe missed by a few feet the Chinese leader, whose visit to London has been marred by pro-Tibetan protests.
Before reaching for his shoe, the man shouted, “How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”
“Stand up and protest, you’re not challenging him,” he yelled as Chinese security guards tried to block the cameras. The man was then taken out of the room by University security.
Tibetans and their supporters protested at four separate places in London and Cambridge. Five protestors were arrested but released later without charges. Wen also met British prime minister Gordon Brown. Tibetans and supporters had demanded that Brown must place issue of Tibet high on his agenda.
“Gordon Brown must hold Wen Jiabao accountable for the Chinese government’s ongoing campaign of terror in Tibet,” said Terry Bettger, Campaigns Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet UK, before the two leaders met.
China’s media, quick to report when a shoe was thrown at former President George W. Bush last year, refrained from any direct mention of the incident or carrying image of shoe episode. State-run newspapers and Web sites in China carried stories on Wen’s speech but made no reference to the shoe-throwing. Content mentioning it on Internet forums also appears to have been deleted, reported AP
The act of shoe-throwing as a mark of protest was first witnessed in Iraq in December last year when Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at former US President George W Bush.
