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1257. Date: February 2, 1997
Target: Governors' Meeting
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: About 20 handicapped protesters blocked the lobby of the hotel where 48 governors were attending a National Governors' Association meeting. Police forcibly removed them.
1258. Date: February 5, 1997
Target: President Abdala Bucaram
Location: Quito, Ecuador
Details: Two million protesters marched in the streets to protest the government's austerity program. Two people were injured by gunshots outside Congress. Bucaram is called "El Loco," because of his flamboyant personality. He barricaded himself in the palace.
1259. Date: February 7, 1997
Target: Parliament
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Details: A man screaming about devil worshipers rammed his jeep up several flights of stairs leading into Parliament. He jumped out and stormed into the lobby where 20 to 30 security officers overpowered him.
1260. Date: February 12, 1997
Target: Governor Zell Miller
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Details: Activists barged into Miller's office and taped hundreds of pictures of children to the walls of the waiting room to protest welfare-reform measures.
1261. Date: February 18, 1997
Target: President Sali Berisha
Location: Lushnja, Albania
Details: After making a speech to supporters at a small theater, Berisha was leaving and walked out to find over 1,000 people waiting for him, and mistook them for supporters. He went toward them until they started whistling and heckling, and he saw they were protesters.
1262. Date: April 21, 1997
Target: Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Location: Hong Kong
Details: Saboteurs damaged Hong Kong's showpiece Tsing-Ma bridge, the world's longest road-rail suspension link, barely a week before Thatcher was to declare it open. Police said the cables had been cut in 32 places.
1263. Date: April 28, 1997
Target: Queen Elizabeth II
Location: London, England
Details: An escaped mental patient was able to sneak onto the grounds of Buckingham Palace, prompting a security review. The incident was at least the sixth palace intrusion in 15 years. The man was quickly arrested.
1264. Date: May 1, 1997
Target: Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
Location: Santa Monica, California
Details: Schwarzenegger and his wife were ambushed and trapped in their Mercedes-Benz between two cars driven by paparazzi. Two photographers were arrested on misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment in connection with the incident.
1265. Date: May 7, 1997
Target: Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Details: Police detained a man who shook Chretien's hand at an election stop and would not let go. When the man began pulling Chretien toward him and yelling, police pulled them apart.
1266. Date: May 9, 1997
Target: Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Details: A crowd of protesters angry over unemployment blocked a bus of reporters traveling in advance of Chretien's bus, and tried to hold the reporters hostage until he met with them. They released the bus after Chretien agreed to a meeting. Chretien's bus turned back, and he later flew in by helicopter to meet with them.
1267. Date: June 3, 1997
Target: State Legislators
Location: Salem, Oregon
Details: Nearly 150 people hanged effigies of five lawmakers at the Capitol.
1268. Date: June 10, 1997
Target: Governor George Pataki
Location: Long Island, New York
Details: Two New York tenant's groups protested outside Pataki's $2,500-a-plate fund-raiser at a country club.
1269. Date: June 18, 1997
Target: U.S. Capitol Building
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: The environmental group Greenpeace drove a dump truck onto a service road, evaded security officers, and dumped a load of coal and seven oil drums in front of the Capitol.
1270. Date: June 25, 1997
Target: Governor Paul Patton
Location: Frankfort, Kentucky
Details: Death penalty protesters staged a sit-in at Patton's office, saying they wouldn't leave until he granted clemency for a convicted murderer.
1271. Date: July 1, 1997
Target: Gubernatorial Candidate Mike Bowers
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Details: Police investigated a break-in at Bowers campaign headquarters. The culprits stole tax records and planted drug paraphernalia.
1272. Date: July 5, 1997
Target: Chelsea Clinton (daughter of President Clinton)
Location: Florence, Italy
Details: It was reported that Chelsea's bodyguards scuffled with two photographers outside a disco when they tried to snap pictures of her. Photographer Riccardo Gemogli was shoved against a wall and injured slightly. Police broke it up.
1273. Date: July 11, 1997
Target: Director Steven Spielberg
Location: Malibu, California
Details: Jonathan Norman was arrested after he allegedly backed his Land Rover into the front gates of Spielberg's Malibu estate, and then fled on foot. Norman was reportedly found in a neighbor's yard holding a drapery rod over his head like a javelin. He had lists of Spielberg's family members and associates, and what he called a "rape kit," consisting of duct tape, handcuffs, and a razor knife. He was plotting to handcuff Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, and make her watch him sexually assault Spielberg. Spielberg and his family were in Ireland at the time of the incident. Previously convicted in 1995 of assault with a deadly weapon, Norman reportedly first tried to enter the estate in June 1997, but was turned away by a security guard. He identified himself as Spielberg's adopted son. According to court testimony, Norman also possessed a "shopping list" of S&M items including eye masks, nipple clamps, dog collars, chloroform, and an electric shocker. He was convicted of stalking on March 4, 1998, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
1274. Date: September 18, 1997
Target: State Capitol Building
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Details: Members of a common law court were locked out of a Capitol meeting room and troopers removed them from the secretary of state's office.
1275. Date: September 25, 1997
Target: Retired Astronaut Story Musgrave
Location: Kissimmee, Florida
Details: Margaret Ray was arrested outside Musgrave's home after she beat on his door and turned on all the outdoor faucets. She had been stalking him for four years, calling, writing, and sending packages. Ray became famous after she was arrested seven times for stalking David Letterman and claiming to be his wife. She stated she loved Musgrave and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to a mental hospital. Ray was released in August 1998 and returned to Colorado. She later killed herself by kneeling in front of an oncoming train.
1276. Date: October 16, 1997
Target: U.S. Representative Frank Riggs
Location: Eureka, California
Details: Four protesters stormed into Riggs' office wearing hoods, and dumped a tree stump on the floor. When they refused to leave, Humboldt County deputies wiped and sprayed pepper mace into their eyes before removing them. On October 30, nine protesters sued the deputies for excessive force. Videotapes of the incident were released to the media.
1277. Date: November 8, 1997
Target: President Bill Clinton
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: An unidentified woman wandered into the White House pressroom and asked where Clinton was. She was detained by the Secret Service and charged with unlawful entry. It is unclear how she gained
access.
1278. Date: November 28, 1997
Target: Supreme Court Justice Sajjad Ali Shah
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan
Details: President Farooq Leghari ordered the army to protect Shah after thousands of protesters stormed the court building forcing him to flee.
1279. Date: December 26, 1997
Target: President Daniel Moi
Location: Homa Bay, Kenya
Details: As Moi was leaving an election rally where he had spoken to a crowd of 1,000 supporters, a clash broke out with rival party supporters. Six people, including a political candidate and two officers, had been seriously injured. Help was delayed because of a nationwide nurses' strike.
1280. Date: January 14, 1998
Target: President Bill Clinton
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: A woman on a public tour of the White House pulled a can of spray paint out of her purse and sprayed brown paint on two historic sculptures. She carried the three-inch paint can through the magnetometer checkpoint, but agents didn't seize it because "a can of spray paint itself is not a security issue and there was nothing to indicate any kind of suspicious behavior." She was stopped by a uniformed Secret Service officer and taken into custody.
1281. Date: March 17, 1998
Target: British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Details: During a chaotic visit to a Jewish neighborhood, Israeli protesters pounded pots and pans, chanting, "Robin, go home!" Cook was barely visible under umbrellas as he was rushed into a building.
1282. Date: March 23, 1998
Target: President Bill Clinton
Location: Accra, Africa
Details: Clinton spoke to a crowd of about 250,000 people and then walked down to a rope line to shake hands. At one point, the crowd surged forward, crushing those in front. Clinton waved his arms, screaming "Back up!" Earlier, police used belts and clubs to beat back people from the motorcade route.
1283. Date: April 26, 1998
Target: Former President Gerald Ford
Location: New York, New York
Details: Secret Service agents grabbed a waiter with a pistol at a restaurant where Ford was dining. The man was carrying a loaded .38, which he said he had because he was distraught.
1284. Date: April 28, 1998
Target: Governor Mike Huckabee
Location: Little Rock, Arkansas
Details: About 250 protesters, complaining about welfare reform, stormed the hall where he was supposed to speak. They pounded their fists on Huckabee's vehicle as he fled the conference. Huckabee added security at other appearances later that day.
1285. Date: September 13, 1998
Target: Prime Minister Fatos Nano
Location: Tirana, Kosovo
Details: About 2,000 Democratic Party supporters stormed the government's offices and set fire to the ground floor and nearby cars. Nano and several other ministers fled their offices amid a hail of gunfire. One protester was killed and four guards were wounded in the shoot-out. On the following day, shooting broke out between protesters outside Nano's offices and persons inside. Guards sent supporters fleeing amid a hail of bullets, wounding at least three demonstrators. Protesters then threw several grenades into the building, causing explosions.
1286. Date: November 15, 1998
Target: Parliament Members
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Details: An estimated 20,000 pro-democracy students rioted in the capitol. At least 16 were killed and hundreds injured. Twelve-hundred had reportedly been killed during previous riots.
1287. Date: December 30, 1998
Target: Governor Mike Huckabee
Location: Little Rock, Arkansas
Details: When wheelchair-bound protesters clogged Huckabee's front office, his bodyguards recommended that he escape using a wooden ladder to climb down the old Capitol dumbwaiter shaft. The troopers were criticized for having no coordinated response to Capitol protesters. A diagram of the escape route was published in the local newspaper.
1288. Date: July 29, 1999
Target: President Bill Clinton
Location: Rabat, Morocco
Details: Clinton and 40 heads of state attended the funeral for King Hassan. Clinton walked in the funeral cortege for two to three miles through the city streets, with thousands of mourners pressing in from both sides. The Secret Service struggled to provide adequate protection and keep unscreened crowds back.
1289. Date: March 1, 1999
Target: Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Details: Shouting "traitor," a man rushed up and struck Nakasone while he was attending a funeral. Police grabbed the man.
1290. Date: September 5, 1999
Target: Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
Location: Berlin, Germany
Details: Students making a film about a killer brandishing a gun on the balcony of a high-rise apartment block had a shock when police burst in, fearing an assassination attempt on Schroeder. Schroeder was meeting party leaders in a building across the street when his bodyguards spotted the rifle barrel on the 10th floor balcony and raised the alarm. The rifle was a fake, but the police confiscated it anyway before allowing the students to continue making their film.
1291. Date: November 20, 1999
Target: President Bill Clinton
Location: Athens, Greece
Details: Anti-American demonstrators burned stores and banks on Clinton's Friday night arrival in the Greek capital, but the streets were quiet on Saturday. Shortly after the plane left Athens, Larry Cockell, the president's top bodyguard, took the highly unusual step of asking all aboard to examine their belongings, because there had been a threat. Security always is tight on Air Force One, but veteran travelers on the presidential plane could not recall ever being asked to search their bags while the plane was in the air. Even senior staff members were required to go through their bags. Nothing unusual was found.
1292. Date: December 1, 1999
Target: President Bill Clinton and Governor Tom Vilsack
Location: Seattle, Washington
Details: Authorities imposed a curfew in Seattle as police fired tear gas in clashes with demonstrators. Police temporarily sealed off a downtown hotel with Clinton inside as clashes erupted nearby. There were 400 arrests of demonstrators. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack was being driven to a WTO meeting, but found the road blocked by protesters and decided to walk. Two Iowa troopers and two Washington troopers escorted him. The crowd initially showed no inclination toward violence, until his contingent was in the midst of the demonstrators, and people began to scream at them. A trooper moved to protect Vilsack, and was hit, kicked, and punched by the crowd. Protesters pummeled one state trooper bending over Vilsack to protect him. The other troopers pulled Vilsack from the crowd, and he was hustled back to his hotel room.
1293. Date: December 31, 1999
Target: Singer Celine Dion
Location: Montreal, Canada
Details: Dion had just left the stage during her New Year's Eve concert when an obsessed fan attempted to follow her to the dressing room. Security guards stopped him. Later, when she left her dressing room, the fan lunged in her direction, but was again stopped. He pulled a 300,000-volt stun gun and shocked three bodyguards before he was overpowered and arrested. Dion was not injured.
1294. Date: September 4, 2000
Target: First Lady Hillary Clinton
Location: New York, New York
Details: A woman bit a Secret Service agent who had intervened to prevent her approach to Mrs. Clinton. The agent went to the hospital for treatment and the woman was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.
1295. Date: October 5, 2000
Target: President Slobodan Milosevic
Location: Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Details: Protesters commandeered a dredging machine and used it to break through the
Parliament building's front door. The protesters were trying to force the resignation of Milosevic. Thousands of protesters seized the building and set several fires.
1296. Date: October 30, 2000
Target: Singer Moon Unit Zappa
Location: Santa Ana, California
Details: FBI agents arrested Timothy Mark Brownfield for allegedly threatening to kill Zappa. A federal grand jury indicted Brownfield after he allegedly mailed a package of documents to the FBI's Santa Ana office in which he threatened to kill Zappa, although the threat "was not terribly detailed." Brownfield reportedly wrote that he was angry with Zappa and her late father, Frank Zappa, for stealing the lyrics to the 1982 song "Valley Girl" from him.
1297. Date: November 18, 2000
Target: Governor George W. Bush
Location: Austin, Texas
Details: Two Capitol Police officers on foot patrol around the Governor's Mansion tried to stop a pickup truck driven by a drunken man, who tried to run them over. The officers fired five shots at the truck, but the man continued on. Police found the truck a few blocks away with the man passed out inside, and he was arrested. No one was injured.
1298. Date: December 28, 2000
Target: Queen Elizabeth II
Location: London, England
Details: A man paraglided into the forecourt of Buckingham Palace as a publicity stunt for his Internet company. Police arrested him. A police helicopter had pursued the motorized parachute across central London before it landed, and police were waiting to make the arrest.
1299. Date: January 16, 2001
Target: Governor Gray Davis and State Legislators
Location: Sacramento, California
Details: A man drove a tractor-trailer onto the Capitol grounds. After circling the building, he accelerated to 70 mph, jumped the curb, and crashed into the Capitol building. His truck exploded into flames, killing him. The legislature was in session, but no one was injured. The Capitol sustained $16.5 million in damages.
1300. Date: January 20, 2001
Target: President-elect George W. Bush
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: Richard Weaver, known as the "Handshake Man," followed VIPs through two checkpoints around the U.S. Capitol, entering the presidential inauguration ceremony without a ticket. He later approached Bush, shook his hand, and slipped a coin into his hand along with a note that said, "Keep Christ first and he will grant you another miracle victory in 4 years." Weaver had slipped into previous high-security events, including both of President Clinton's inaugurals. Secret Service agents interviewed him after Clinton's second inaugural in 1997. Feeling that Weaver would attempt another stunt, they circulated his photo to Bush's inaugural detail, but he still made it through.