Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.
Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.
Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, called for the release of their journalist, saying he was exercising freedom of expression.
Iraqi officials have described the incident as shameful.
A statement released by the government said Mr Zaidi's actions, which also included him shouting insults at President Bush, "harmed the reputation of Iraqi journalists and Iraqi journalism in general".
Correspondents say the protesters are supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr - a leading critic of the US presence in Iraq. Smaller protests were reported in Basra and Najaf.
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President Bush ducks as the shoes are thrown
The Iraqi government has demanded an on-air apology from his employer.
An Iraqi official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the journalist was being interrogated to determine whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at President Bush.
He was also being tested for alcohol and drugs, and his shoes were being held as evidence, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel said Mr Zaidi should be freed because he had been exercising freedom of expression - something which the Americans had promised to Iraqis on the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"Any measures against Muntadar will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime," the firm said in a statement.
The programming director for al-Baghdadiya, Muzhir al-Khafaji, described the journalist as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man".
He said he was afraid for Mr Zaidi's safety, adding that the reporter had been arrested by US officials twice before.
"We fear that our correspondents in Iraq will be arrested. We have 200 correspondents there," he added.
Do you feel this was an example of "free speech?" Why or why not?
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15 comments:
I do believe that this was a way in which the Iraqi's showed their freedom of speech towards Bush. Before Mr. Zaidi threw his first shoe he stated "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog." With his second shoe, Mr Zaidi said this is for all the widows and orphans all those killed in Iraq." This shows that his actions in his attack was symbolic. And therefore it was a free speech in democracy.
the blog above..
Clariza Gutierrez
I think freedom of speech was expressed in this incident. Some one felt the need to express himself agaisnt Bush, so he did it by a shoe. ALthought he could of cause someone to get hurt some people might see it as a threat towards Bush. MR Zaidi felt that it was Bushes Fault that his people were dying. MAny innocents both from the U.S and Iraq are losing their lives over a stupid war. He threw his shoes to show Bush his hatred towards him and to show him the pain they are going through.
-Yaniry Ortiz
i believe yes, they were tired of bush saying the same things over and over. and not doing anything. it was wrong because your not suppost 2 desrespect the president , but it ws cool and funny. sow yeah it was freedom of press
I think it was an example of freedom of speech because by throwing the shoe at Bush he expressed his feelings towards what the president has done and his way of showing how angry he is.
Mr. Zaidi threw his first shoe he stated that "This was a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog." and the second one stated that it was for all the widows and orphans all those killed in Iraq.".
It was freedom of speech if it would have been me Iwould have done the same thing. He was just expressing what he felt.
!!ERIKA GERMAN!!
i think it isa very effective example of freedom of speech.i dont think he should apologize either. if he is not vocally heard what other way for Bush to here him than throw something at him. though i disagree at his choice of item to throw i think bush deserved it. bush likes to hear himself talk and he say a whole lot of nothing half the time anyway. the reporter was expressing himself in an unconventional way but expressing himself none the less. People need to listen to us little peons before we go and throw more than shoes!!!
I do think that Zaidi and his actions were showing freedom of speech. Why? because he was so angry at bush he was probably thinking that saying how he felt was not enough,so he decided to show it also. The only way he could of was by throwing his shoe
to demonstrate it.
Jessica Rodriguez
i do not believe this is freedom of sppech because it is not justified. Freedom of speech is the right to say what you like but not do what you want to do. You can not try to harm a person, apresident at that and prove it to be constitutional. It just isn't right no matter what race you are. It wouldn't have been let go if it was the other way (an american journalist did it to Iraqi president) around so it shouldn't just be let go now.
DELORES QUINONES
I believe that freedom of speech was showed by the Iraqi's. He showed his feeling by throwing the shoe and while he threw the shoe. He was angry at the fact that many things were killed in Iraq. He felt that the only way he will be heard and show his feelings towards the deaths of many innocent people was by throwing his shoe. Therefore i believe this is freedom of speech.
Charlene Vega
i think this is crazy and funny because theyre reacting the same way people in the u.s. reacted.i believe he was practicing freedom of speech because of wat he stated before throwing the shoes.i think he did it to kind of embarress bush because he might of felt embarrassesd for iraq being taken over by americans.
Roberto Green
I do not think this was an example of free speech. I think that throwing the shoes at President Bush was an example of symblolic speech. In the Iraqi culture, the soul of your foot, is a sign of disrespect. Thus saying that throwing the shows at President Bush was just a sign of disrespect.I don't like Bush's politics, but nobody deserves to have shoes thrown at them.
I DO BELIEVE IT WAS A ACT OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH. HE MADE HIS STATEMENTS BEFORE HE THROUGH THE SHOE. THAT WAS A WAY OF HIM SHOWING HIS FREEDOM OF SPEECH EVEN THOUGH HE DIDNT HAVE 2 THROW THE SHOW WHICH WAS GOOD FOR BUSH.
FRANCESCA BARREAU
i think this was an act of freedom of speech. it was clearly a way of the iraq people of showin bush a way of how they felt towards him. i dont think it was a threat at all. the man felt he needed to express his feelings towards bush and did so by throwing his shoes. Although he didnt really have to degrade himself by looking like a complete idiot and throwing shoes, if thats what he felt he needed to do than so be it.
raysa r
I believe that this was an example of freedom of speech in a way because thats the way he expresses himself I guess or it can be how he shows his feelings towards the president. It was also disrespectful in his part but hey he was expressing himself.
*j3nnif3r silv3r*
The Iraqi people did express their freedom of speech but it was taken entirely too far. He assaulted the president of the united states. It is known that many people from iraq dislike Bush's ploicies and the war etc and so does many americans, however we dont take it into own own hands and try to assualt a political figure. Mr Zaidi was wrong for assualting Bush. He couldve expressed his opinion in different ways besides throwing shoes and trying give bush a concussion...lol
!Desteny Bodrick!
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