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Like the mob of protesters seeking attention for their cause, the pie throwers and White House fence jumpers understand the mechanics of media attention. As the acts are dutifully reported over and over, the future prankster intently watches the images unfold, and thinks, "Wow, I can do that, too!" And soon, he too is firing a cap pistol at the Pope (or perhaps a real one). What might seem bizarre to most people makes absolute sense to the attention-seeker.
Even though the perpetrators in these incidents did not intend injury, the sampling of cases does provide insight about attacker strategy, and protector response.
Section 3A: Pie Attacks and Other Thrown Objects
1071. Date: August 16, 1977
Target: Governor James Rhodes
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Details: Rhodes was attending the Ohio State Fair when protesters shouted, "Remember Kent State!" and struck him in the face with a pie, causing an eye injury.
1072. Date: October 14, 1977
Target: Activist/Celebrity Anita Bryant
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Details: A gay rights activist posing as a journalist, hit Bryant in the face with a cream pie during an anti-gay rally. Bryant's image was badly damaged in the attack.
1073. Date: November 5, 1979
Target: Mayor Ed Koch
Location: New York, New York
Details: In the middle of Koch's speech to a crowd of 3,000 people, two men and a woman jumped on stage, struck Koch with eggs, and punched him twice. They were arrested.
1074. Date: July 18, 1980
Target: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Location: Cardiff, Wales
Details: Protesters bombarded Thatcher's limousine with eggs and blocked the road with their bodies. The motorcade halted for several minutes until security officers cleared the road. Earlier, police had found two IRA firebombs nearby.
1075. Date: August 28, 1990
Target: West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Location: Halle, East Germany
Details: Kohl stepped up to a podium to address a crowd of 5,000 people when protesters hurled tomatoes and eggs at him. Bodyguards blocked them with umbrellas.
1076. Date: June 3, 1991
Target: Prime Minister Chung Won-shik
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Details: Won-shik was delivering a lecture at Hankook University when dozens of militant students hurled eggs at him. He was then led to a playground, kicked, and doused in flour. Aides rescued him and they fled in a taxi.
1077. Date: October 23, 1991
Target: Governor Pete Wilson
Location: Los Angeles, California
Details: Hundreds of protesters hurled rocks and denounced Wilson as he spoke inside a Los Angeles hotel. Two men interrupted his speech with shouts.
1078. Date: April 1, 1992
Target: Prime Minister John Major
Location: Bath, England
Details: Major was campaigning for reelection when he was struck with eggs thrown by demonstrators.
1079. Date: April 11, 1992
Target: President F. W. de Klerk
Location: Mitchell's Plain, South Africa
Details: Thousands of protesters drowned out de Klerk's speech at a political rally. Stones and bottles were thrown at him, but batted down by bodyguards. They evacuated him to his motorcade.
1080. Date: October 3, 1992
Target: Emperor Akihito
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Details: A demonstrator broke through a crowd at a ceremony and threw a smoke bomb at Akihito. Bodyguards tackled the man and carried him away. There were no injuries.
1081. Date: November 8, 1992
Target: President R. von Weizsaecker and Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Location: Berlin, Germany
Details: Weizsaecker and Kohl delivered speeches from behind plastic shields held by riot police when protesters threw rocks and eggs at them. Protesters also cut a cable, halting the speeches. Neither dignitary was injured.
1082. Date: May 6, 1993
Target: Mayor Ray Flynn
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Details: Flynn was struck in the neck with a bottle during a disturbance at South Boston High School. Three people were arrested.
1083. Date: October 19, 1993
Target: Queen Elizabeth II
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
Details: Three-hundred Greek Cypriot demonstrators booed and threw coins and eggs at the queen's Rolls Royce car as she and Prince Philip drove away from a ceremony.
1084. Date: February 23, 1994
Target: President F. W. de Klerk
Location: South Africa
Details: De Klerk was at a campaign stop when he was struck in the head with a rock. His bodyguards rushed him to safety.
1085. Date: May 19, 1995
Target: President Fernando Cardoso
Location: Campina Grande, Brazil
Details: Hundreds of protesters surrounded Cardoso's bus during a tour and threw rocks, breaking out windows. Troopers and soldiers broke up the crowd.
1086. Date: June 1, 1995
Target: Prince Charles
Location: Ireland
Details: While Charles was walking down a street, three IRA supporters threw eggs at him and were arrested.
1087. Date: October 15, 1995
Target: Tipper Gore (wife of Vice President Gore)
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Details: During a tour of a health center, protesters threw rocks at Gore's motorcade.
1088. Date: March 20, 1996
Target: U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright
Location: Vukovar, Croatia
Details: Serbs hurled rocks and insults at Albright's motorcade as she toured Croatia. They called her a fascist when she got out of her car.
1089. Date: June 23, 1996
Target: Pope John Paul II
Location: Berlin, Germany
Details: Angry hecklers threw paint bags at the Pope's armored vehicle, hundreds screamed, "Go to Hell" and "Burn the Pope," and a naked woman tried to run into the path of his vehicle. About two-dozen protesters were detained.
1090. Date: July 23, 1996
Target: President S. Ntibantunganya
Location: Bujumbura, Burundi
Details: Angry crowds pelted the president's helicopter with stones and cow dung as he tried to attend the mass funeral for 340 civilians massacred by Hutu rebels. He had been under constant threat of assassination since he took office in 1994. His predecessor died in a mysterious plane crash, and his wife was bayoneted to death in 1993. After the funeral incident, he fled to the U.S. Embassy for safety.
1091. Date: August 8, 1996
Target: Pope John Paul II
Location: Nantes, France
Details: Throwing pies, water-filled condoms, and leaflets, a dozen protesters disrupted a Mass, hitting some priests with pies. They were protesting the Pope's upcoming visit.
1092. Date: October 29, 1996
Target: Congress Members
Location: Caracus, Venezuela
Details: About 1,000 university students hurled firebombs and rocks at police outside Congress. They were protesting the government's austerity policies.
1093. Date: December 5, 1996
Target: Queen Elizabeth II
Location: Manchester, Britain
Details: Two-hundred protesters surrounded the queen's car as she arrived for a function at a university. While she and Prince Philip were inside, the protesters pelted the car with eggs and pounded the windows. They were protesting cuts in education spending.
1094. Date: January 25, 1997
Target: Deputy Prime Minister Tritan Shehu
Location: Lushnja, Albania
Details: About 10,000 protesters who had lost money in get-rich-quick schemes pelted Shehu with stones and one man hit him in the back with an iron bar. They trapped Shehu inside his office for hours and chant
ed threats to kill him. Riot police finally rescued him, but ten officers and many reporters were also beaten.
1095. Date: March 23, 1997
Target: Governor Marc Racicot
Location: Gardiner, Montana
Details: A woman burst into a meeting and splashed a bucket of rotting bison entrails on Racicot, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, and two U.S. Senators. She was protesting the killing of more than 1,000 bison near Yellowstone National Park. She was removed and handed over to deputies.
1096. Date: April 12, 1997
Target: Prime Minister John Major
Location: London, England
Details: Five hundred demonstrators, marching in support of fired dockworkers, threw bottles, paint, and orange smoke bombs at police guarding the entrance to 10 Downing Street. Two were arrested. Major was away on business.
1097. Date May 30, 1997
Target: Presidential Candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen
Location: Mantes-La-Jolie, France
Details: Far-right leader Le Pen became involved in a 40 minute shoving match with about 30 hecklers while campaigning. He was led into a cafe for safety, but the hecklers rained eggs and rocks on it. Police escorted him to a car that took him away.
1098. Date: November 11, 1997
Target: Fashion Designer Oscar de la Renta
Location: Tigard, Oregon
Details: A woman smashed a tofu cream pie in de la Renta's face as he signed autographs. She shouted, "Shame on you for using fur!" as security guards surrounded her. She was arrested.
1099. Date: February 4, 1998
Target: Microsoft CEO Bill Gates
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Details: As he entered a building to meet with computer industry and government leaders, Gates was struck in the face with three cream pies from different directions. The three pie throwers were members of a group that "pies" famous people. Their previous targets included filmmaker Bernard-Henri Levy and actress Brigitte Bardot. Two were detained and released, the third escaped.
1100. Date: February 12, 1998
Target: Proctor & Gamble CEO John Pepper
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Details: A woman walked onto the stage where Pepper was receiving an award from Ohio Governor Voinovich. She pushed a tofu cream pie into Pepper's face, and shouted, "P & G poisons animals! Shame on you!" She was arrested.
1101. Date: October 27, 1998
Target: Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro
Location: San Francisco, California
Details: Shapiro had delivered a speech on genetic engineering at the Fairmont Hotel. He left the stage and stopped to engage a heckler, when two protesters struck him in the face with tofu cream pies. Shapiro wiped his glasses and continued to argue with the heckler, until security personnel escorted him out. The protesters were arrested for battery.
1102. Date: October 31, 1998
Target: World Trade Organization Director Renato Ruggiero
Location: London, England
Details: After finishing his speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 20 members of the Bionic Baking Brigade rushed up at shoved cakes onto Ruggiero's head. No police or security guards were present and none were called. Ruggiero remained calm and said, "This is not bad cake."
1103. Date: November 8, 1998
Target: Mayor Willie Brown
Location: San Francisco, California
Details: As Brown was starting a news conference, several protesters threw pies at him. He grabbed one protester for the police and two others were arrested. The group, the Bionic Baking Brigade, and had carried out four other recent pie attacks. They were protesting the rising number of evictions in the city.
1104. Date: December 2, 1998
Target: Dutch Politician Frits Bolkestein
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
Details: Bolkestein had just begun his speech at Leiden University when protesters struck him with three cream pies. He was targeted because of his populist, right-wing views of immigrants.
1105. Date: January 4, 1999
Target: Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
Details: Zalm was attending the opening of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange when protesters struck him with two cream pies.
1106. Date: January 6, 1999
Target: TV Celebrity Noel Edmonds
Location: London, England
Details: Edmonds, the host of the television show "House Party," was filming for his show on the street when two pie throwers attacked him. He laughed off the incident and said, "I can take a joke."
1107. Date: February 17, 1999
Target: Proctor and Gamble CEO John Pepper
Location: Evanston, Illinois
Details: During Pepper's speech at Northwestern University, two female PETA animal-rights protesters smashed pies in his face. He wiped his face and continued with his speech. The protesters were charged with disorderly conduct.
1108. Date: March 25, 1999
Target: Governor Jesse Ventura
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Details: As Ventura was leaving the Whittier Community Center gym for a speech to the crowd outside, a protester threw a pie at him. It hit his trooper bodyguard on the head, grazed two other staffers, and a small piece hit Ventura on the left arm. The pie was thrown as Ventura walked past a group of protesters behind a police line. The thrower was not identified.
1109. Date: March 11, 1999
Target: Chevron CEO Kenneth Derr
Location: San Francisco, California
Details: As Derr arrived at a high school to make a speech, six environmental protesters pelted him with pies and escaped. Derr toweled himself off and then went ahead with the speech.
1110. Date: May 13, 1999
Target: Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
Location: Bielefeld, Germany
Details: An antiwar activist hit Fischer in the head with a red paint balloon as he was sitting on the stage for a conference. Fischer suffered a burst eardrum from the assault, which was against his support of NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. He was taken to the hospital for treatment. The balloon contained a mixture of paint and foul-smelling butyric acid.
1111. Date: January 2000
Target: Scientist Keith Campbell
Location: Sussex, England
Details: Campbell, co-creator of Dolly the cloned sheep, was delivering a talk. Members of the group PIE (People Insurgent Everywhere) hit him in the face with a custard pie.
1112. Date: February 2, 2000
Target: Agriculture Minister Nick Brown
Location: London, England
Details: Brown was addressing angry farmers at a National Farmers' Union conference. A female protester, wearing a press credential, darted up and smeared a chocolate cake in his face. She then escaped. Brown dismissed it as a "silly stunt."
1113. Date: May 1, 2000
Target: Governor George Ryan
Location: Carbondale, Illinois
Details: Following a political forum, an SIUC student struck Ryan in the face with a pie while members of the media surrounded him. Trooper bodyguards quickly whisked Ryan away. The student wanted to bring attention to Ryan's corruption. She was arrested.
1114. Date: May 2000
Target: Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: Glickman was making a speech when a PETA protester approached the podium and struck him in the head with a pie. Bodyguards rushed in, grabbed up the woman, and took her off-stage where she was handcuffed and arrested.
1115. Date: August 2000
Target: Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Location: Montreal, Canada
Details: Chretien was greeting people at a local festival along with eight bodyguards. A man protesting "crimes against Canadians," evaded Chretien's security guards and approached him. As Chretien was about to shake his
hand, the man pulled a cream pie from under his jacket and smashed it in Chretien's face. Mounties arrested the man for assault.
1116. Date: November 2000
Target: U.S. Chief U.N. Negotiator Frank Loy
Location: The Hague, The Netherlands
Details: Loy was delivering a daily briefing at a U.N. conference on climate change, when a protester jumped up from the front row of seats, pulled a cream pie out of her bag, and hit him in the face with it.
1117. Date: November 30, 2000
Target: Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Location: Berlin, Germany
Details: Kohl was signing copies of his memoirs at a book signing. A man joined a line of people waiting for an autograph. When it was his turn, he lunged forward and struck Kohl in the face with a cream cake. A press photographer began taking pictures and Kohl ordered him to stop, as he calmly wiped his face clean. Bodyguards from the federal BKA police and six security officers were in the immediate area surrounding Kohl.
1118. Date: December 10, 2000
Target: President Emil Constantinescu
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Details: Constantinescu had just finished voting in the election when a man approached him to talk about his troubles. As they walked along, the man threw a small bottle of blue dye in the president's face, before police took him away. Bodyguards helped Constantinescu wipe his face clean.
1119. Date: January 9, 2001
Target: Prime Minister Tony Blair
Location: Bristol, England
Details: A tomato struck Blair in the back as he entered the City of Bristol College to open a new campus. An aide wiped his jacket, leaving a large red stain. Protesters lobbed more tomatoes and other fruit, but missed. They were protesting Britain's policy toward Iraq. Two women and a man were arrested.
1120. Date: April 1, 2001
Target: State Senator Carol Flynn
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Details: Flynn was knocked down outside the Senate Chamber of the Capitol Building when a man struck her in the face with a cream pie. He was protesting a highway re-routing project. She was assigned a temporary security detail of state troopers.
1121. Date: May 1, 2001
Target: Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland
Location: Oslo, Norway