Protester Hurls Shoe At Visiting Foreign Leader

A protester threw a shoe at China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao Monday while he was giving a speech at Cambridge University, police said.

The protester seated near the back of the auditorium stood up during Wen's speech and shouted: "How can you listen to this unchallenged?" before throwing a shoe that landed some distance from the premier.

Wen looked unruffled, paused a few seconds and then continued with his remarks. One of his aides quietly stepped on the stage, picked up the gray athletic shoe and removed it.

In a similar incident, an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in December.

Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi was scheduled to face trial in December on a charge of assaulting a foreign leader, but the court date was postponed after his attorney filed a motion to reduce the charges. He remains in custody in Baghdad.

George W. Bush, who ducked a volley of shoes from an enraged Iraqi journalist at a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, professed to be perplexed. This was an epic insult intended for a serial bungler. But, like the shoes, it too went straight over his head. Mr Bush, who has buried America’s reputation throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds in the ruins of Iraq, did not, does not and will never get it.