27 November 2009 - 18H13
Serb deputy fined for hurling shoe at speaker
(R TO L) Tomislav Nikolic, Aleksandar Vucic and Dragan Todorovic of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical party in 2004 in Belgrade. Serb authorities fined a right-wing lawmaker 350 euros after she hurled a shoe at parliament's deputy speaker in a protest that echoed the infamous footwear attack on George W. Bush in Iraq. Todorovic said he defended Lazic's conduct.
AFP - Serb authorities fined a right-wing lawmaker 350 euros after she hurled a shoe at parliament's deputy speaker in a protest that echoed the infamous footwear attack on George W. Bush in Iraq.
Gordana Pop Lazic, a deputy for the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), told reporters Thursday that she wanted to stage a "symbolic and innocent" protest to denounce the way in which Gordana Comic had chaired a session of parliament.
Comic had refused to allow an SRS deputy to speak during a debate on decentralisation, news agencies reported.
The shoe missed its target.
"This shoe will go down in history, like the Iraqi one, as a symbol of fight against tyrants," the SRS acting leader Dragan Todorovic said as he defended Lazic's conduct.
The fine was imposed after Lazic was found to have undermined the image of parliament.
Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi won worldwide fame after throwing his shoes at George W. Bush in December 2008 as the US president made a final visit to Baghdad. He was later given a one-year prison sentence.
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