About 100 students protested Friday ahead of a speech at Cambridge University by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief whose career collapsed after he was charged with sexual assault.
The 62-year-old French politician, often called DSK, was scheduled to speak on Europe?s financial crisis at the university?s debating society despite calls for the event to be cancelled. The protesters said the university should not give a platform to a man with such a troubling attitude toward women.
More related to this story
Mr. Strauss-Kahn arrived through a side door to the debating union?s building shortly before 6 p.m., followed minutes later by protesters who chanted ?Justice for Diallo? and ?No more violence, no more rape?.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the IMF after allegations last May that he sexually assaulted New York hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. Prosecutors later dropped criminal charges against him, but Ms. Diallo has brought a civil case against him.
In an unrelated case, he was questioned by police in Lille, France, last month about a suspected hotel prostitution ring.
A day before the protest, police arrested a man and a woman, both in their early 20s, on suspicion of vandalizing The Cambridge Union Society building. The Cambridge News website displayed photos showing its walls defaced with messages including ?DSK GO AWAY? and ?WOMEN DESERVE BETTER.?
Ms. Diallo?s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, spoke to about 100 Cambridge students and journalists on her behalf at another event on Friday. Letting Mr. Strauss-Kahn speak at the prestigious university was ?giving him a platform to use Cambridge University to help his publicity campaign,? Mr. Wigdor said.
A statement posted Friday on the debating union?s website said the invitation was made well before Mr. Strauss-Kahn?s controversial departure from the IMF. His experience in French politics mean that he was ?exceptionally well qualified? to speak on the financial crisis and the French presidential election, it said.
Some of those attending the speech, many of them economics or politics students, agreed. They said they wanted to hear about Mr. Strauss-Kahn?s experiences in the IMF and politics, not his personal life.
?This is a forum for free speech,? said politics student Milad Matin, 21. ?It?s not a value judgment. I?m not endorsing rape by watching him speak.?
Protesting student Francesca Williams, 21, said the opposition to Mr. Strauss-Kahn?s appearance had nothing to do with freedom of speech. ?They?re inviting a man who hates women,? she said. ?I don?t think DSK should be given the privilege of speaking in front of a private audience.?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-International/~3/k85Cyg_XHEY/
posterior michelle obama adam lambert arrested shroud of turin barkley beltran space ball
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.