Scores of Palestinian reporters protested on Thursday at the Manger Square in Bethlehem expressing their solidarity with the Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at the US President, George W. Bush, during a press conference earlier this week in Iraq.
The reporter, Montathir Al Zeidi, was arrested after hurling his shoes at George Bush, and could face up to two years imprisonment for “insulting a foreign leader”. Currently, the whereabouts of the reporter remain unknown as the US-sponsored Iraqi regime is holding him among fears that he might be killed.
The protesters in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, carried Palestinian and Iraqi flags. They also carried signs in English reading “Bush deserved it”, referring to the shoes Zeidi hurled at Bush.
A similar protest was held in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The protesters demanded the release of Al Zeidi and stepped on photos of Bush.
The protesters said that the Iraqi reporter expressed the anger the Arab public feels regarding the US policies in the Middle East, the occupation of Iraq, and unlimited support for Israel's occupation of Palestine.
In Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets in solidarity with Al Zeidi and condemned Bush's vist to Iraq. Dozens of protesters raised their shoes in the air and repeated what Al Zeidi said before he hurled his shoes at Bush.
The Al Baghdadiyya Sattlite TV in Iraq demanded the release of its reporter, Al Zeidi. The station said that dozens of political figures, intellectuals and heads of tribes in Iraq sent letters of solidarity with Al Zeidi to the Iraqi government to expresse their miscontent with his continued detention.
Approximately 100 lawyers have vountered to represent Al Zeidi in court.
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