Man charged with throwing shoe at Chinese premier
By politics.co.uk staff
A man has been charged by police after a shoe was hurled at Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao during a speech at Cambridge University.
The 27-year-old man, who has yet to be named, will appear before magistrates in Cambridge on February 10th charged with committing a public order offence.
The shoe, which was thrown in a symbolic gesture reminiscent of a similar act against former American president George Bush during a recent trip to Iraq, narrowly missed Mr Wen on Monday night during a speech on the global economy.
The protestor – who was removed from the room following the incident by university security – is reported to have shouted: “How can the university prostrate itself before this dictator?”
Mr Wen, whose current visit to Britain has been met by widespread protests, later described the incident as “despicable”.
