man throws shoes at howard on abc

AAP and LOUISE BURKE, The West Australian
October 25, 2010, 7:22 pm

Former prime minister John Howard has had shoes thrown at him during an episode of the ABC's Q&A.

Mr Howard appeared unfazed by the incident, in which two shoes were thrown at him by a man.

�Forget it, forget it,� he told the show's host Tony Jones after the protester failed to hit his target.

The man was escorted from studio immediately after throwing the shoes.

The stunt caused a flurry of activity on social networking site Twitter, which is popular with Q&A viewers, with users wasting no time in tagging the incident #shoegate

Shortly after the shoe was thrown, ABC managing director Mark Scott tweeted: �Live television. Nothing like it�.

Mr Howard had just finished answering questions about the Iraq war when the protester struck.

�That is for Iraqi dead,� the man appeared to shout at Mr Howard as he threw two shoes at the former prime minister.

A female audience member then shouted: �You've got blood on your hands", before walking out of the studio.

The man was led out by ABC staff.

Mr Howard appeared to take the incident in his stride.

�It's all right, don't worry. Forget it, forget it. Relax,� he said.

An audience member then told Mr Howard �if that's all they've got to throw at you, you've got nothing to worry about�.

The incident had echoes of an infamous incident when shoes were thrown at former US president George Bush during a trip to Iraq in 2008.

Mr Howard was a strong advocate of the US-led invasion of Iraq.