By Jason Reed
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) - An American protester shoved a cream pie into the face of IMF chief Michel Camdessus Sunday, while hundreds of anti-free trade activists rushed past Thai police checkpoints near a U.N. trade agency summit in Bangkok.
The assailant, Robert Nainan from 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 of the IMF," Nainan told reporters after the incident. The American activist had registered for the summit as a delegate of the "Fifty Years is Enough Network."
Nainan struck as the IMF chief was chatting to delegates before his last official speech as managing director. Camdessus tried to shield his face with a clipboard but was sprayed with cream from the pie.
Camdessus, a keynote speaker at the weeklong UNCTAD (U.N. Conference on Trade and Development) meeting, seemed unfazed and went ahead with his speech as planned, proposing a shake-up of the annual summit of rich nations to address criticism that globalization is benefiting rich nations at the cost of the poor.
"I Like Patisserie" -- Camdessus
Smiling at his final news conference, Camdessus shrugged off the incident as a professional risk that was part of his job.
"I like patisserie, you know," he joked.
About 500 protesters, wearing red headbands, carrying anti-IMF, anti-free trade banners and shouting slogans on loudspeakers, earlier blocked an intersection about little more than a mile from the conference location.
Nearly 300 policemen armed with clubs and shields faced the protesters but took no action to stop those who went through the barricades, witnesses said.
Authorities feared protests in Bangkok might mirror demonstrations which degenerated into violence and marred December's World Trade Organization ministerial meet in Seattle.
The demonstrators moved out peacefully after an UNCTAD, which began a week-long summit on Saturday, accepted a petition in which they demanded that the meeting focus on unemployment and labor issues.
The activists who went through the barricades did not enter the convention center.
"Today we want to stress our demands on the plight of labor. We want the meeting to talk about labor and assurances against unemployment," said Nitirat Somboontrab, a Thai protest leader.
On Saturday Thai police averted a clash with hundreds of anti-free trade activists at the meeting site.
The activists from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were allowed to protest about 200 yards from the conference center, without loudspeakers.
Human rights groups and left wing activists have been protesting on the fringes of the summit against what they see as the evils of free trade and its impact on poorer countries.:
