Shoe thrown at IMF chief as Istanbul protests mount
By Dario ThuburnFri Oct 2 04:00:52 EST 2009
Thu Oct 1 18:00:52 UTC 2009
ISTANBUL, Oct 1 AFP - A Turkish journalist has thrown a shoe at IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in Istanbul ahead of key meetings on the economic crisis, as rallies set to bring thousands into the streets get under way.
The man, who works for a small left-wing newspaper and is also reportedly a university student, shouted "IMF, get out of Turkey!" as he threw a white sports shoe and ran towards the IMF managing director on Thursday.
Strauss-Kahn dodged the shoe and remained calm throughout the incident.
Shoe-throwing - a sign of disrespect in the Muslim world - was famously first used in Iraq last year by an Iraqi journalist against then-US president George W Bush and there have been several copycat protests since.
The Turkish protester, Selcuk Ozbek, who is the political editor of Birgun newspaper, was overpowered by security guards and dragged away from the venue where Strauss-Kahn was giving a talk on the global economy to local students.
Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay said Ozbek had a press card, which had enabled him to gain access to the event. Turkish television reports said he was also a student at Anadolu university in northwest Turkey.
He was taken to a police station and later released, his newspaper said. A spokeswoman for Strauss-Kahn said he would not press charges against the man.
Outside Bilgi University where the incident took place, a 20-strong group of students chanted "IMF thief! IMF thief!" as a dozen armed riot police stood by.
At a separate protest against the IMF and the World Bank in the city, about 1,000 people rallied following calls from trade unions and leftist parties.
The IMF and the World Bank will hold their annual meetings in Istanbul next week as the economic crisis continues to hit hard around the world.
"Millions of starving people, millions of unemployed, there's your capitalist system!" the protesters at the rally chanted as they marched. "The day will come when the IMF will have to square with the people."
The protesters, who later dispersed peacefully, marched behind a banner reading: "It is People that Count, Not Profits: IMF and World Bank Go Away!"
About 10,000 police officers and 1,600 security officials have been deployed to ensure there are no clashes in Istanbul, the scene of violent confrontations between protesters and security forces in the past.
Turkish left-wing groups and anti-globalisation activists have called for protests in the run-up and during the annual meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 6 and 7.
Five of the protests will be organised by a group called Resistanbul.
IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson shrugged off the shoe-throwing incident, saying: "The IMF needs to speak to people and listen to people even if not everyone agrees with us."
Referring to Strauss-Kahn, she said: "The managing director noted that the students were at least polite enough to wait until the end of the discussion.... We are happy that we had an open debate."
As the shoe-thrower was being taken away, several protesters applauded and shouted slogans denouncing the IMF and its "collusion" with the Turkish government, which has been negotiating for an IMF loan since last year.
"The IMF creates wars and makes people poor!" shouted one protester.
The Birgun newspaper, which has a readership of under 10,000, said it had no link to the incident and Ozbek had been told he would have to pay a fine.
Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi was jailed for nine months after hurling his shoes at Bush last December during a Baghdad press conference.
He was freed last month and said he was tortured while in prison.
