Friday, 2 October 2009A protester threw a shoe at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is in Turkey to take part in the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting at Istanbul Bilgi University on Thursday.
The student threw his shoe at Strauss-Kahn but the shoe failed to hit the IMF official and landed near his feet. Another student also tried to unfurl a banner, but security guards stopped him. Both students were seized by the police. Some other students staged a protest against Strauss-Kahn by shouting slogans while he was leaving the auditorium.
“I was glad to meet students and hear their views,” Strauss-Kahn stated in a written statement released afterward. “This is what the IMF needs to do, even if not everyone agrees with us. One thing I learned: Turkish students are polite. They waited until the end to complain.”
Mr. Strauss-Kahn did not file an official complaint, and Turkish police released the two protesters later in the evening after legal proceedings at the police station and health center.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he considered the protest on IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn as an attack.
"Don't call this a protest. I don't accept this as protest. This is an attack," Erdogan said while responding to the questions of reporters. Erdogan said, "We have prepared areas for people to make their protests. I consider throwing a shoe as disrespect to Turkish hospitality by imitating the incident that occurred in Iraq. This is not a democratic stance."
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Friday, 2 October 2009
Salih Dogan (JTW)
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