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Incidents of objects being thrown at politicians

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Replica of the shoe thrown at U.S. president George W. Bush during a speech in Iraq

In various countries, objects have been thrown at politicians for reasons varying from comedic to harmful.

Australia

  • On November 29, 1917, Prime Minister Billy Hughes had an egg thrown at him at the Warwick railway station in Queensland.
  • On March 11, 1993, Liberal leader John Hewson was pelted with eggs, soft drink cans, apples, tomatoes and broccoli during a rally in front of Brisbane city hall, with Hewson catching one of the eggs.
  • On October 25, 2010, two shoes were thrown at John Howard, former Prime Minister, by Peter Gray, live on the ABC Television program Q&A while Howard was defending his decision to commit Australian troops to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
  • On November 4, 2010, John Howard was delivering a speech about leadership in the new century at the University of Cambridge when an Australian student called him a racist before taking off his boot and throwing it in his direction.
  • On June 14, 2015, David Sprigg threw his shoes at Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in Brisbane, later saying, "I think he should be ashamed for what his government is doing and how asylum seekers are being treated in detention centres. When they use language like 'queue jumpers' and 'illegal arrivals', I think they're really just turning the public against refugees."
  • On March 16, 2019, Senator Fraser Anning had an egg cracked on the back of his head by a teenager due to him blaming Muslim immigrants for the Christchurch mosque shootings.
  • On May 6, 2019, a woman attempted to egg Prime Minister Scott Morrison while he was campaigning for the 2019 election, but it bounced off his head.

Belgium

  • On June 17, 2013, State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Maggie De Block was hit in the face with plates carrying whipped cream and ketchup by two activists. They responded to her immigration policy labeling it "fascist, destructive and inhumane".
  • On December 22, 2014, Prime Minister Charles Michel was attacked with French fries and mayonnaise by two masked members of Lilith, an international feminist activist group. They were protesting financial cuts. A packet of French fries was first thrown over the prime minister and was immediately followed by several squirts of mayo.

Canada

France

Germany

Greece

  • Since the 1950s protesters have thrown yogurt, referred to as "yaourtoma", at politicians and in 1958 doing so was criminalized until 1983. Alekos Alavanos, Liana Kanelli, and Haris Kastanidis have had yogurt thrown at them.

Guatemala

Hong Kong

  • In 2008, Hong Kong politician Raymond Wong Yuk-man threw a bunch of bananas at Chief Executive Donald Tsang in protest of plans to introduce a means test for Old Age Allowance payments (colloquially known as "fruit money").
  • In 2013, a protester threw a stuffed wolf toy at Leung Chun-ying, as both a criticism of his perceived cunningness, and as a pun on his name and the Chinese word for wolf (the transliterated name given to the stuffed toy by IKEA also sounds similar to a Cantonese profanity).
  • People have also thrown dorayaki at lawmakers in the past, as an accusation of lying (the fictional character Doraemon uses dorayaki to get people to tell the truth).

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Netherlands

  • On March 15, 2002, Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn had a cake thrown in his face during a book presentation in The Hague by an activist shouting "Up towards zero seats!" Fortuyn at the time was poised to win in large numbers at the upcoming national election. It is unknown what the cake was made of; claims that there were feces in it, were never proven. In the aftermath of the murder of Fortuyn, two months later, three people were arrested in connection to the cake incident.

New Zealand

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sweden

United Kingdom

1970s

2000s

2010s

2020s


United States

1910s

  • On August 14, 1908, Eugene W. Chafin was giving a speech in Springfield, Illinois, when a lynch mob started a riot and while he was taking his handkerchief out from his pocket a member of the mob believed that he was pulling a gun out and threw a brick at him.
  • A cabbage was thrown at William Howard Taft while campaigning by a heckler. Taft responded: "I see that one of my opponents has lost its head."

1950s

1960s

1970s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Vermin Supreme glitter bombs Randall Terry at Saint Anselm College.

2020s

  • On June 17, 2021, a man threw a water bottle at California Governor Gavin Newsom in Downtown Oakland.
  • On September 8, 2021, radio show host running for the governorship of California, Larry Elder was egged by a woman on a bike wearing a Gorilla mask in Venice, Los Angeles.
  • On May 20, 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams had a protein drink can thrown at him, hitting one of his security guards.
  • On November 7, 2022, a man was arrested for throwing a hard seltzer can at Senator Ted Cruz during a World Series parade in Downtown Houston, Texas.
  • On April 29, 2023, a woman was arrested for allegedly throwing a drink at Matt Gaetz and another man during a wine festival in Miramar Beach, Florida. The woman claimed she tripped and spilled the drink on Gaetz.
  • On May 23, 2023, a woman was arrested for allegedly throwing a brick at San Francisco Mayor London Breed during an open-air Board of Supervisors meeting.
  • On September 16, 2024, protesters threw ping pong balls at Mayor Andre Dickens and other members of the Atlanta City Council. The balls has the number "116,000", representing the number of signatures petitioners had gathered against the construction of Cop City.

Venezuela

  • In 2015 president Nicolas Maduro was hit in the head with a mango with a written message on it while visiting Anzoategui.

See also

References

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