WHEN THE Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at George Bush in December, Iranian officials declared him a hero and hailed his gesture as a mark of Islamic courage.
They were presumably less impressed this week when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was similarly targeted during a visit to the north-western city of Urumiye.
Mr Ahmadinejad found the shoe on the other foot as he waved from an open-top car on his way to give a speech at a stadium. An Iranian website, Urumiye News, reported that a shoe was hurled at the president as his convoy drove through a central square.
Security guards waded into the crowd but failed to find the culprit. A hat was also thrown in Mr Ahmadinejad’s direction before his car sped away.
The event went unreported on mainstream Iranian news outlets but has been hotly discussed on the country’s highly active blogosphere. Some pro-Ahmadinejad bloggers have dismissed the reports as rumours spread by “royalists” and “counter-revolutionaries”.
Urumiye News said a disturbance broke out after a vehicle in the presidential convoy struck an elderly man who tried to hand Mr Ahmadinejad a letter. People became angry when the driver failed to stop to attend to him. Eventually an ambulance in the motorcade took him to hospital. – (Guardian service)