Protester hurls shoe at Chinese PM during UK visit

The  protester  leapt  up  from  his seat near  the back of a crowded auditorium,  blew  a whistle  and  yelled that Premier Wen Jiabao was a "dictator"  before  throwing  the  shoe  toward the stage.

"How  can  this  university  prostitute  itself  with  this  dictator  here, how  can  you  listen to  him  unchallenged," the man shouted.

Like  the  now-famous  incident when  an  Iraqi  reporter  threw  his shoes at former President George W. Bush  in December,  the gray athletic shoe missed its intended target.

Unlike Bush, Wen,  who  was standing on a stage behind a podium, did  not  need  to  duck.  He merely paused for a few seconds before he continued with his speech. One of his aides quietly stepped on to the stage, picked up the shoe and took it away.

Security staff escorted the protester out of the auditorium. He was arrested and taken to a police station for questioning on suspicion of committing a public order offense, said police spokeswoman Shelly Spratt.

"The university is a place for discussion, debate and considered argument, not for shoe throwing,” said Tim Holt, a university spokesman.

The shoe-throwing incident came at the end of a three-day visit to Britain dogged by demonstrations over human rights and Chinese policy in Tibet. Security was tight at the university and police kept  a  group  of about 20 demonstrators  away  from the Chinese leader when  he  arrived for his speech.

Shoe  throwing  has  become  a globally  recognized  form  of  protest since  the case  involving Bush.  Iraqi reporter  Muntadhar  alZeidi  was scheduled  to  face  trial  in December on  a  charge  of  assaulting  a  foreign leader,  but  the  court  date was  postponed  after his  attorney fled  a motion  to  reduce  the  charges.  He remains in custody in Baghdad