Just 2 Seconds (75 page)

1138.
Date: July 7, 2003
Target: Premier Ralph Klein
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Details: Klein was attending his annual "Stampede Breakfast," when a young man rushed forward and slammed a cream pie into his face. Security officials quickly apprehended the man and two others believed involved in the incident. They were charged with assault.

1139.
Date: August 12, 2003
Target: Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader
Location: San Francisco, California
Details: Nader was participating in a press conference when a man ran into the room, shoved a cream pie into Nader's face, and then made a quick exit. Nader was there to endorse a Green Party candidate for the California governor's race.

1140.
Date: August 28, 2003
Target: U.S. Trade Official Peter Allgeier
Location: Rio de Janerio, Brazil
Details: During a meeting, a university student rushed forward and smashed a cream pie into Allgeier's face. The student belonged to the protest group Bakers Without Borders.

1141.
Date: September 3, 2003
Target: Gubernatorial Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger
Location: Long Beach, California
Details: Schwarzenegger attended a large political rally on a university campus, attended by several thousand students. As he walked along a path lined with people, he was struck on the left shoulder with an egg. A security agent immediately brushed off the egg and helped Schwarzenegger to remove his jacket, all done without breaking stride on the way to the stage. The candidate later joked, "Now the guy owes me some bacon." Video of the incident was played on the Oprah Winfrey Show, presenting the candidate in a favorable light because of his humor.

1142.
Date: September 20, 2003
Target: Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky
Location: Rutgers University, New Jersey
Details: Sharansky was about to speak at a university event when a college student struck him in the face with a cream pie. The student was charged with disorderly conduct.

1143.
Date: September 26, 2003
Target: Illusionist David Blaine
Location: London, England
Details: Blaine had locked himself in an acrylic glass box in a stunt to go 44 days without food. About half way through his stunt, Henry Cookson built a catapult and fired several paint bombs, one scoring a direct hit on Blaine's box. Police arrested Cookson for criminal damage.

1144.
Date: December 22, 2003
Target: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Details: Maher, on his first visit to Israel in more than two years, was at the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem when a small group of extremist worshippers started shouting at him and trying to assault him. Bodyguards surrounded him and hustled him out of the compound, supporting him briefly as he appeared to lose his balance. Witnesses heard him saying, "I'm going to choke, I'm going to choke," as Muslims threw shoes at him both inside and outside the mosque.

1145.
Date: March 17, 2004
Target: World Bank President John Wolfensohn and Slovenian Minister for Finance Dusan Mramor
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Details: Anti-globalization protesters threw paint in the faces of Wolfensohn and Mramor as they walked in front of the government palace.

1146.
Date: March 31, 2004
Target: Businessman George Soros
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
Details: Soros was attending a human rights forum when two young men burst into the room and poured glue and water on him. Security personnel led the men from the room while they shouted anti-Soros statements.

1147.
Date: April 25, 2004
Target: National Front Leader Jean-Marie Le Pen
Location: Manchester, England
Details: About 100 demonstrators emptied a garbage can on Le Pen's car and pelted it with eggs, as he left a press conference for the far-right, anti-immigration, British National Party. Le Pen was under heavy security by British police and private bodyguards, who fought with protesters attempting to block his car from leaving.

1148.
Date: May 19, 2004
Target: Prime Minister Tony Blair
Location: London, England
Details: While Blair was making a speech in Parliament, two men seated in the gallery each threw a condom filled with purple powder, striking Blair in the shoulder. Fearing a toxic substance, Parliament was evacuated and both men were arrested for disorderly conduct. They were protesting Fathers' Rights.

1149.
Date: September 24, 2004
Target: Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
Location: Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
Details: A thrown object struck Yanukovych while campaigning. The object was originally reported as being a rock, but later as an egg. He fell to the ground and was rushed away by security personnel. He was later reported to be in stable condition in a hospital. A teen was reportedly arrested.

1150.
Date: October 21, 2004
Target: Columnist Ann Coulter
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Details: Two men ran onstage and threw custard pies at Coulter as she was giving a speech to a University of Arizona crowd. She saw them charging her, turned, and ran toward the rear of the stage. One pie missed and the other grazed her shoulder. The men were tackled and arrested.

1151.
Date: December 31, 2004
Target: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Location: Rome, Italy
Details: Berlusconi was slightly injured when a tourist threw a camera tripod at him in a packed Rome square. Berlusconi was hit behind the ear by the tripod, during an impromptu walkabout in Piazza Navona shortly after sunset. Berlusconi was bruised in the attack and saw a doctor as a precautionary measure. The assailant was seized immediately after the assault, and reportedly stated, "I did it because I hate him. I certainly didn't plan this, but when I saw him there greeting the crowds, I couldn't stop myself."

1152.
Date: March 29, 2005
Target: Editor William Kristol
Location: Richmond, Indiana
Details: Kristol was lecturing at Earlham College when a man jumped onto the stage and splattered him with an ice cream pie. Members of the audience jeered the student as he walked off the stage, then applauded as Kristol wiped the goo off his face with a paper towel and said, "Just let me finish this point."

1153.
Date: March 31, 2005
Target: Commentator Pat Buchanan
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Details: Buchanan was addressing a crowd of students at Western Michigan University, when a student jumped up in front of the lectern and hurled salad dressing on him. The student shouted, "Stop the bigotry." He was arrested. Buchanan stated, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed."

1154.
Date: April 6, 2005
Target: Activist David Horowitz
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Details: Horowitz had just started a lecture at Butler University when he was struck with a pie. Horowitz's supporters followed the assailants out of the hall, and confronted them with what a witness called "pushing and shoving." However, the attackers got away. After the incident, Horowitz completed his lecture.

1155.
Date: June 19, 2005
Target: Actor Tom Cruise
Location: London, England
Details: Cruise was attending a movie premier and was moving along a press line, answering questions from reporters. One reporter held out a fake mike, and squirted Cruise in the face with water. Cruise kept his cool, and lectured the prankster, finally calling him a "jerk" several times. He then turned and walked away. Police arrested four men, but Cruise did not press charges. They were reportedly working on a televised comedy program, which involves playing pranks on celebrities and members of the public.

1156.
Date: October 8, 2005
Target: Editor Anna Wintour
Location: Paris, France
Details: French anti-fur activists with PETA struck Wintour in the face with a cream pie to protest against her support of fur in the fashion industry. Wintour, dressed in a fur-trimmed jacket, was hit in the face with a tofu cream pie as she left a fashion show. It was the second such attack this year on Wintour, an unapologetic fur supporter decried by animal rights groups as a "pelt pusher."

1157.
Date: October 20, 2005
Target: Presidential Candidate Dumarsais Simeus
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Details: While touring a slum area, 20 young men and women reportedly began hurling rocks and shouting insults at his motorcade. A reporter reportedly heard a gunshot fired from the crowd, but it didn't hit any of the vehicles. The motorcade immediately fled the area.

1158.
Date: December 12, 2005
Target: BBC Presenter Jeremy Clarkson
Location: Oxford, England
Details: Clarkson was attending a ceremony at Oxford Brookes University to receive an honorary degree. His controversial stance on environmental issues had drawn a small group of protesters. As he was leaving the ceremony escorted by a security guard, a protester struck him in the face with a pie. Clarkson said, "Great shot," and commented the pie had too much sugar.

1159.
Date: January 13, 2006
Target: Actor Heath Ledger
Location: Sydney, Australia
Details: Five paparazzi photographers, who claim Ledger spit at them last year, retaliated by squirting him with water pistols outside the premiere of his movie "Brokeback Mountain." As Ledger arrived with co-star Michelle Williams at Cinema Paris, the photographers reportedly squirted him in the face and chest for ten seconds, wetting his hair and clothing. Ledger raised his hands to protect himself and attempted to shield Williams, who was also sprayed, as the couple rushed inside the cinema. Security guards moved toward the five photographers, but they fled the scene.

1160.
Date: February 15, 2006
Target: Designer Julien Macdonald and Celebrity Paris Hilton
Location: Mayfair, England
Details: Macdonald and Hilton got out of their car in front of a nightclub and were posing for pictures. An anti-fur protester reportedly with PETA emptied flour on them. Both were reportedly covered from head to toe. The female protester was held by door staff while they called police, but she escaped when sirens came into earshot. Members of PETA promised further attacks on those who continue to design fur coats.

1161.
Date: April 7, 2006
Target: U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
Details: Brownfield was distributing baseball equipment to little leaguers in a baseball stadium, when supporters of President Hugo Chavez demanded that he leave. On their departure, the ambassador and his four-car motorcade drove through an adjacent market where Chavez supporters began throwing produce and eggs. Motorcyclists then chased the entourage for about four miles on Caracas' main east-west highway, at times pounding on the ambassador's car. Venezuelan police officers assigned to the motorcade reportedly did nothing.

1162.
Date: October 30, 2006
Target: Singer Barbara Streisand
Location: Sunrise, Florida
Details: During a skit in her concert, Streisand traded political barbs with a George W. Bush imitator. A fan in the crowd, who apparently disagreed with her politics, threw a paper cup filled with some sort of liquid on stage, but apparently did not hit Streisand. Her manager said she shrugged off the incident and responded to the angry audience member by saying: "It's a free country and they're entitled to express their opinion."

Section 3B: Pests, Protesters, and Pranksters

Though the title of this section could seem to describe cases that are not serious, one need only read the details of the July 9, 1982 incident involving Queen Elizabeth to see that the level of risk can be very high, regardless of a perpetrator's intent or ability.

1163.
Date: October 18, 1971
Target: Russian Premier Alexi Kosygin
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Details: A protestor struck Kosygin near the Canadian Parliament, while he was on an official trip to Canada. He was unhurt.

1164.
Date: February 17, 1974
Target: President Richard Nixon
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: Robert Preston, a private in the Army, reportedly stole an Army helicopter from Fort Meade, Maryland, and flew it to the White House Complex. He passed over the Executive Mansion and then returned to the south grounds, where he hovered for about six minutes and touched down briefly approximately 150 feet from the West Wing. Members of the EPS did not know who was piloting the aircraft and were not aware that it had been stolen from Fort Meade. They made no attempt to shoot down the helicopter. Preston left the area of the White House and flew the helicopter back toward Fort Meade. He was chased by two Maryland State Police helicopters, one of which he forced down through his erratic maneuvers. Preston then returned to the White House Complex. As he lowered himself to about 30 feet above the south grounds, EPS officers barraged the helicopter with shotgun and submachine gunfire. Preston immediately set the riddled aircraft down. He was injured slightly.

1165.
Date: December 25, 1974
Target: President Gerald Ford
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: On Christmas Day, a man who claimed he was the Messiah crashed his Chevrolet Impala through the Northwest Gate of the White House Complex and drove up to the North Portico. He had what appeared to be explosives strapped to his body, and he announced to Secret Service personnel that he was prepared to detonate the device. After approximately four hours of negotiation, he surrendered. The "explosives" turned out to be road-flares. (It was in response to this incident and another the previous year that in 1976 the antique gates were replaced with reinforced gates.)

1166.
Date: 1975
Target: President Gerald Ford
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man scaled the fence surrounding the White House and was able to walk about the grounds without being stopped for about 90 minutes. He even got near the President's daughter, Susan Ford, as she unloaded camera equipment from her car.

1167.
Date: June 1975
Target: Prime Minister Takeo Miki
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Details: At the public funeral for former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato a right-wing extremist slipped through the lines and punched Miki in the face, knocking him down.