Man charged with throwing shoe at Chinese premier
Premier Wen
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Protests are being planned across the country this weekend to coincide with the visit of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to the UK.
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Shao Jiang, one of the organisers of the Tiananmen Square demonstration, talks to politics.co.uk about Sino-UK relations, personal freedom, and what it's like to be imprisoned in China. |  |
Tuesday, 03, Feb 2009 09:08
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".