An Iraqi reporter imprisoned for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush found himself on the receiving end of a similar footwear attack in Paris on Tuesday.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, whose flare-up against Bush last December turned into a symbol of Iraqi anger, was speaking at a news conference to promote his campaign for victims of the war in Iraq when a man in the audience hurled a shoe at him.
It hit the wall next to his head and a scuffle ensued in the audience, television footage showed.
French media said the attacker was an exiled Iraqi journalist who spoke in defense of US policy, accusing Zaidi of siding with a dictatorship, before throwing his shoe.
“He stole my technique,” Zaidi later quipped.
The new shoe-thrower’s motivation wasn’t immediately clear. Whatever his motive, the confrontation didn’t stop there.
Zaidi’s brother, Maithan, chased the attacker in the audience and — what else? — pelted him with a shoe as he left the room.
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