(RTTNews) - An angry white man with a long blond ponytail threw a boot at former Australian prime minister John Howard during a debate at Britain's Cambridge University--the latest political figure to have a shoe thrown at him by an angry protester.

Andrew Chapman, a 20-year-old cricketer and a senior officer at the Cambridge Union Society which organized the debate, leapt to his feet and caught the flying missile before it could reach the former leader.

The attacker hurled the boot after accusing 70-year-old Howard of being 'racist' and 'a disgrace' during a Cambridge Union debate last Friday on "leadership in the new century." When Howard got up to speak, the man shouted: "You make me ashamed to be Australian. Go home, racist" before hurling the missile.
Howard Thursday night brushed off the incident, saying "it was one bloke in a crowd of 300" who "didn't vote Liberal."

In December last year, an Iraqi journalist made headlines when he threw his shoe at former U.S. president George Bush in Baghdad and called him "a dog." In February, graduate student Martin Jahnke threw a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a speech, also in Cambridge.

by RTT Staff Writer

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