A protestor on Thursday threw a shoe at IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn during a speech to university students in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul, but missed him. The protestor, a young man dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and a sleeveless jacket, shouted "IMF, Get out of Turkey!" as he ran towards the stage and threw the white sports shoe which fell about a metre (yard) in front of Strauss-Kahn, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
The protestor was immediately overpowered and escorted out by security guards. The International Monetary Fund head, who was answering questions at the end of his speech, remained calm thoughout the incident. As the shoe-thrower was being taken out of the conference hall at Bilgi University, another protestor attempted to unfurl a banner, but was also quickly overpowered by security guards. Both protestors were taken into police custody, the Anatolia news agency said.
Several people in the conference hall stood up as Strauss-Kahn was leaving, applauding and shouting slogans denouncing the IMF and its "collusion" with the Turkish government which has been negotiating for a fresh loan since last year. A group of 15 protestors demonstrating outside the university campus, chanting "IMF thief! IMF creates wars and makes people poor" were also detained, Anatolia said.