CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—During a lecture at Cambridge University in England, Chinese state-leader Wen Jiabao was met with a protestor’s flying shoe.
On Monday, Wen’s speech was interrupted by the blowing of a whistle. A man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties then shouted, “How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”
The man then threw his shoe at Wen which landed on the stage a few feet from him. Security guards escorted the man from the lecture hall.
“He said ‘How can you listen to this dictator. This is ridiculous, you should be standing up and protesting’. And then he was escorted out,” said Richard Inman a third-year student at Magdelane College, Cambridge who witnessed the incident.
According to Inman, following the incident, Wen described the incident as “despicable behavior.”
Wen began his tour through Europe last Friday to speak about the global economy and meet with foreign leaders. According to Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence and analysis company, just before leaving China, “Wen Jiabao has signed legislation revoking the authority of the country’s top news agency, Xinhua, to judge whether to reproduce or disseminate foreign news, instead giving that prerogative back to the State Council Information Office (SCIO).” The move adds to the current suppression of Xinhua news as the SCIO already appointed Xinhua’s editor in chief to monitor the media outlet.
His speeches on the global economy have also been wrought with blame against the United States. During a presentation the previous day at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, both he and Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the United States as the cause of the financial crisis. During the conference Wen called for a “new world order” on the economy.
Outside of the university, protesters were penned in a corner while a group of Chinese supporters beat drums, sang nationalistic songs, and pointed their megaphones at the protesters in an attempt to drown them out. Audience members attending the talk were patted down by security guards before passing through a metal detector. Once inside, Chinese secret service agents carefully watched the audience.
Cambridge University Student branch of Amnesty International was the largest amongst the various protesters. Spokesperson Catherine Laugh said: “We are trying to raise awareness during Wen Jiabao’s visit about four key areas to improve human rights in China, these are: the death penalty, repression, censorship, re-education through labor, harassment of human rights defenders as these issues are a big problem in China currently—and we really want to see an improvement in human rights as was promised before the Olympics.”
Banners from the Falun Gong group did not protest against Wen Jiabao himself, but asked for Chinese leaders Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jin, Zhou Yongkang to be brought to justice for crimes against humanity.
Spokesperson for Students for a Free Tibet UK, Padma Dolma said:"This whole visit is very hypocritical at this time where there is really a climate of fear and terror inside Tibet.”
“Even though Gordon Brown today didn’t speak about the issue of Tibet everyone knows what is going on and everyone holds the Chinese government accountable in their hearts. At the moment the Chinese government is trying upgrade their image, their reputation of a harmonious peaceful nation and everyone knows it’s not true,” said Dolma.
Wen’s speech at Cambridge University was part of his tour of various European countries. Among those left out of his agenda was France, which is speculated to be related to his cancelling of a China-EU summit in December after French President Sarkozy met with the Tibetan leader the Dali Lama.
Additional reporting by Joshua Philipp.
On Monday, Wen’s speech was interrupted by the blowing of a whistle. A man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties then shouted, “How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”
The man then threw his shoe at Wen which landed on the stage a few feet from him. Security guards escorted the man from the lecture hall.
“He said ‘How can you listen to this dictator. This is ridiculous, you should be standing up and protesting’. And then he was escorted out,” said Richard Inman a third-year student at Magdelane College, Cambridge who witnessed the incident.
According to Inman, following the incident, Wen described the incident as “despicable behavior.”
Wen began his tour through Europe last Friday to speak about the global economy and meet with foreign leaders. According to Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence and analysis company, just before leaving China, “Wen Jiabao has signed legislation revoking the authority of the country’s top news agency, Xinhua, to judge whether to reproduce or disseminate foreign news, instead giving that prerogative back to the State Council Information Office (SCIO).” The move adds to the current suppression of Xinhua news as the SCIO already appointed Xinhua’s editor in chief to monitor the media outlet.
His speeches on the global economy have also been wrought with blame against the United States. During a presentation the previous day at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, both he and Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the United States as the cause of the financial crisis. During the conference Wen called for a “new world order” on the economy.
Outside of the university, protesters were penned in a corner while a group of Chinese supporters beat drums, sang nationalistic songs, and pointed their megaphones at the protesters in an attempt to drown them out. Audience members attending the talk were patted down by security guards before passing through a metal detector. Once inside, Chinese secret service agents carefully watched the audience.
Cambridge University Student branch of Amnesty International was the largest amongst the various protesters. Spokesperson Catherine Laugh said: “We are trying to raise awareness during Wen Jiabao’s visit about four key areas to improve human rights in China, these are: the death penalty, repression, censorship, re-education through labor, harassment of human rights defenders as these issues are a big problem in China currently—and we really want to see an improvement in human rights as was promised before the Olympics.”
Banners from the Falun Gong group did not protest against Wen Jiabao himself, but asked for Chinese leaders Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jin, Zhou Yongkang to be brought to justice for crimes against humanity.
Spokesperson for Students for a Free Tibet UK, Padma Dolma said:"This whole visit is very hypocritical at this time where there is really a climate of fear and terror inside Tibet.”
“Even though Gordon Brown today didn’t speak about the issue of Tibet everyone knows what is going on and everyone holds the Chinese government accountable in their hearts. At the moment the Chinese government is trying upgrade their image, their reputation of a harmonious peaceful nation and everyone knows it’s not true,” said Dolma.
Wen’s speech at Cambridge University was part of his tour of various European countries. Among those left out of his agenda was France, which is speculated to be related to his cancelling of a China-EU summit in December after French President Sarkozy met with the Tibetan leader the Dali Lama.
Additional reporting by Joshua Philipp.
