President Zardari graced Birmingham with his presence today as the Presidential tour of Europe reached its final destination. The President was slated to address the overall Pakistani community but in truth it was a PPP bash for PPP workers only.
The Birmingham bash did not pass off without incident and included a substantial public demonstration against his UK visit. However by the end of the day, the event and the Zardari speech were overshadowed by the alleged shoe attack on the President. It seems that President Zardari was the recipient of a ‘shoecide attack’ from an elderly man in the audience who has yet to be named, however more information is set to come forward in the coming days.
As an demonstrator at the Zardari rally I do wish to inform OP readers of the now infamous Zardari Birmingham bash and it particular the anti-Zardari demonstration. As is usual for Pakistani politics, the demonstration included some catchy slogans and chants. Indeed the anti-Zardari messages were numerous and humourous and included many examples of ‘Pinglish’ as readers will decipher from the below photos that I took:
The best slogan was of course the first one that made reference to Zardari’s indifference to the plight of ordinary Pakistanis which drew parallels with the Munna Bhai character of Bollywood fame.
In terms of the demonstration it was a cross party event with Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf in the ascendancy whilst civil society activists were aplenty. The police security cordon was tight and prevented the demonstrators from reaching the President and thankfully the demonstrators adhered to it. The following photos show some of the demonstrators and the security cordon as shown below:
That said the PPP supporters were out in force and were plenty in number and passionate as ever as shown below:
On a seperate note it was encouraging to see that the Pakistani Christian community had also arrived at the demonstration and they too bought their own viewpoints to the event in particular on the blasphemy law, as the photos show below:
All in all, the demonstration was peaceful and as polite as it could be given the strength in feeling amongst the British Pakistani community against the Zardari tour of Europe whilst Pakistan’s people remain under water. With the now infamous shoe attack, President Zardari’s Birmingham bash is sure to be etched in the collective Pakistani memory bank for a long time that is for sure.
Comments
11 responses to “Zardari’s Birmingham Bash”
After failing to report anything about the floods, the rescue efforts and the volunteerism required other than a subjective opinion of a tourist trapped in the northern areas, what moral right does this blog have to post this?
Shahid – enough to tell you that a lot of work is underway to coordinate an effort to Moro – Sindh – which is at the moment being flooded to the max – im just working behind the scene to tie an effort with the group of people going for relief, at the same time helping a nationwide consortium to setup a disaster management effort more in terms of a long term effort rather then a myopic short term one-shot affair.
Also I think by tomorrow we will also have ability to collect funds online via PayPal via a 501 (c) registered organization so that all funds collected from the US are tax deductible. I choose to prepare before I start touting the horn for this noble effort.
So dont moral right sense anyone, do what you want in your capacity and it not a publicity stunt for anyone and I dont treat it as such – even during the IDP crisis – I started only when I was personally committed to the cause – this time having learnt from a few mistakes last time I think i want to do better
That is indeed good to hear. Hope it reaches the most deserving of people.
This event was however hijacked as usual by Hizb ut Tehrir terrorists, the terrorists that Britian exports to Pakistan.
I strongly protest the act of throwing Shoe at Zardari.
Its an insult to the Shoe 🙂
Also, the guy who threw the shoe for publicity, claims social benefit and house rent form the local council in Birmingham and drives an illegal cab at night. Always good to hear self-righteous people living off at others expense.
Only yesterday I said revolution is on its way today it is here .
yeah tamam Pakistaniyoun kai dil ki awaz hai .It is not about throwing shoes at MrPresident .This is how much we are fed up of present government
Hi Farah
I m fakhr if you like I can talk to you as farah is sameone name of mine
Bastard Zardari & Gillali (All PPP)
Geo, Ary and may be some other channels too, who has telecast this breaking news about Zardari shoecide attack in Birmingham ralley have been shut down in Pakistan. The idiot advisor to Zardari Farahat ullah Babar has clarified this event, but "dogs bark train moves".This is a message to our Army too, who is giving shelter to this notorious creature. Gen Kiyani you have regained the prestige of Army, so don't loose this chance & give a lesson to this infamous & notorious president. The revolution has started from the land of Britain and will soon start in Pakistan and smashed all these corrupt politicians.
Zardari is a horse's ass !!!!!!
Another stupid US puppet !!!!!!
Why to waste words on him; just 'shoe' him off! But excuse me Zardari is the true representative of the paky piply jamhuriat.