IMF Chief Ambushed by Activist’s Pie
BANGKOK, Thailand — A U.S. protester shoved a fruit-and-cream pie in the face of outgoing International Money Fund chief Michel Camdessus on Sunday, while hundreds of anti-free-trade activists rushed past Thai police checkpoints near a United Nations trade agency summit in Bangkok.
The assailant, Robert Nainan of Washington, D.C., managed to get inside the summit venue having registered as a delegate. He was bundled away by police who detained him for a short period.
“We wanted to send Mr. Camdessus a message that we did not appreciate his 13 years at the IMF,†Nainan told reporters.
Camdessus is set to retire today, more than a year before his term as managing director expires. A keynote speaker at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development meeting, he seemed unfazed by the pie attack and went ahead with his speech, addressing criticism that globalization is benefiting rich nations at the cost of the poor.
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