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Wen shoe hurler's message: Get out of Tibet

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

A TV grab of the protester (standing), who hurled a shoe at Chnese premier Wen Jiabao during his speech at the Cambridge University, before he was escorted out of the Cambridge concert hall on 2 February 2009. He now faces a public order offence, and has a court hearing on 10 February. File photo/AP Video/UK

Although the shoe hurling incident surrounding Wen Jiaboa on 2 February was extensively covered, the actual words uttered by the protester and his intentions for the protest were not properly mentioned.

From a video posted on the website YouTube, it has now become clear that the unrecognised man shouted: “Get out of Tibet.” This line missing from every report made the man’s motive for protesting clear.

The protester, now known to be a 27-year-old German man who has been charged for “public order offence”, stood up from his seat in the back of a crowded auditorium of about 500, blew a whistle and yelled Wen Jiabao as a dictator and called for China to get out of Tibet.

“How can this university prostitute itself with this dictator here,” the man shouted. “How can you listen to the lies he is telling? Stand up and protest and get out of Tibet.”

The man then threw a shoe which missed hitting the Chinese premier, but landed on the stage a few metres away, though some reports say it landed 30 feet away from the podium. The footage shows two people, reportedly Wen’s aides, leaving the stage after picking up the shoe. Some reports say a security guard picked up the shoe.

Before the man was escorted out of the hall he loudly shouted: “Stand up and protest and get out of Tibet.”

Wen Jiaboa was giving a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University to a mainly Chinese audience of students and dons when the protester stood up at the back and blew a whistle.

Wen pauses and then said: “Teachers and students, this kind of dirty trick cannot stop the friendship between the Chinese and the British people.” The remark was greeted with applause, media reports say.

The man, whose name has not been disclosed due to “university regulations,” has a hearing on 10 February at the Cambridge Magistrates’ Court. He is being held in custody at Ely Police station in Cambridge.

Another incident, in which an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W Bush last December, received widespread media coverage in the Chinese media as in the rest of the world. But the shoe thrown at Wen was not mentioned in the Chinese print media initially, except saying Wen’s speech was disturbed and the University appologised.

People’s Daily, the main mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, said Wen’s speech had won “sustained applause” but did not mention the shoe. Xinhua, the state news agency, said China had expressed “strong dissatisfaction” about his speech being “disturbed” but did not describe what happened.

China tightly controls its media and often suppresses news showing Communist Party and state leaders in unfavourable light. However, the state-run CCTV departed from the usual practice, and aired unedited footage of the event on CCTV’s main evening news report on 3 February night.

Observers have said that the presence of vast online information may have prompted official media to tell about the incident.

Wen’s visit to Britain was the last of his European tour that also included Spain, Germany, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and EU headquarters in Brussels. The shoe incident occurred at the end of Wen’s three-day visit to Britain. He returned to Beijing the next day.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun