Dear Mr. U.S. President, sorry, but Britain's Muslims are legally allowed to hurl their shoes at you!!
from "Muslim protesters 'will be allowed to throw their shoes'," the TelegraphWhat a circus we have allowed to be built.
The ruling emerged after a judge in the case of Aquib Salim, 21, a student who threw a shoe during last year's Gaza protests in London, dismissed a charge of violent disorder for the act.
His comments, at Isleworth Crown Court, mean that many of the 70 mainly Muslim protesters charged with violent disorder following the protests outside the Israeli embassy could also escape prosecution if they threw shoes rather than other missiles.
It has since been confirmed by the Crown Prosecution Service that the judge's decision was based partly on guidance issued by police in 2008 shortly after an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at George Bush during a press conference in Baghdad.
It has led to an increase in the practice, with protesters hurling shoes at Downing Street and at the US consulate in Edinburgh during the Gaza protests.
Chris Holt, Salim's solicitor, said his client was likely to escape with a suspended sentence for another offence of throwing a stick at police – an offence to which he pleaded guilty.
"The court accepted that the earlier shoe-throwing incident was simply a ritual form of protest and therefore not a criminal act of violence," he said.
The form of protest is based on the Muslim belief that shoes and particularly their soles are unclean.
Lindsey German, of the "Stop the War" coalition which has led a series of protests against the Iraq and Afghan wars, said the group sought advice from police on shoe-throwing for a protest outside Downing Street after the Baghdad protest.
"They said that was OK and there was a facility allowed for people to bring old pairs of shoes. Afterwards, they joked that they didn't realise we were going to throw the shoes so hard," she told The Sunday Times. (more)
