Friday, 9 March 2012

Cambridge students protest against Dominique Strauss-Kahn visit

Ex-IMF head, facing alleged links to prostitution ring, encounters angry protesters during visit to speak at university union
Student protesters outside the Cambridge Union Society make their feelings known against visiting speaker Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Photograph: Alban Donohoe/Albanpix.com
More than 100 students marched on the Cambridge Union to protest against the appearance at the debating society of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, who is facing civil action over sexual assault allegations by a New York hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo.

Waving placards reading "DSK not welcome here", they protested outside the union where the former French presidential frontrunner, who is also being questioned over alleged links to a prostitution ring in France, had been invited to speak on global economics.

He arrived through a side door to the union building shortly before 6pm, followed minutes later by protesters who chanted "Justice for Diallo" and "No more violence, no more rape".

The lawyer representing Diallo, 32, who is pursuing a compensation claim against "DSK", as he is known in France, condemned the union for inviting the veteran Socialist politician. Douglas Wigdor, who flew in from New York to attend a protest debate at the university's law faculty just hours before Strauss-Kahn's engagement, said the invitation was "an affront to all victims of sexual crimes".

Wigdor accused Strauss-Kahn's PR team of "using the prestigious university to further his PR means", and said that the economist and politician was "orchestrating this because, in my view, he wants to make a comeback".

Strauss-Kahn, 62, quit as head of the IMF last May amid claims, which he denied, that he sexually assaulted Diallo. Criminal charges were dropped by US prosecutors in August. Diallo is now pursuing a civil action for monetary damages. The pre-trial hearing in the civil case is to be held on 28 March, the same day Strauss-Kahn is due to be summoned by judges in France over allegations concerning a suspected prostitution ring.

A petition "Disinvite DSK", begun after he accepted the invitation to address the union, attracted more than 700 signatures. He has also been accused by French writer Tristane Banon, 32, of attempting to rape her in 2003. Prosecutors decided there there would be no charges as the time limit for prosecution had passed.

Addressing more than 100 students at the protest debate on sexual violence organised by the student union's women's campaign, Wigdor said Strauss-Kahn had given "no explanation" about what happened in the hotel room, other than to say it was a "consensual" encounter, nor for physical injuries suffered by Diallo.

Cambridge Union Society refused to rescind its invitation, citing the right to free speech. "The society has been inviting him to address our members for several years, given his economic knowledge as then head of the IMF and his experience of French politics," it said in a statement.

Wigdor said: "The history of Cambridge and the history of the union is now interspersed with Strauss-Kahn. I don't blame Strauss-Kahn. I blame the union."

Referring to an ongoing French investigation into Strauss-Kahn's alleged involvement in a suspected prostitution ring, Wigdor said: "Just a few weeks ago he is taken in for interrogation. Now he's addressing Cambridge students."

Diallo had been left "physically and emotionally scarred", Wigdor claimed, saying no "white upper- or middle-class woman in New York" would have been treated as Diallo, an African immigrant, had been.

Diallo sent a message of support to the protesting students, saying they had provided her with "further motivation to see justice is done" and that Strauss-Kahn was "held accountable for his actions". Banon also sent a message of support, saying the protest and petition "allowed me to believe a little more in humanity".

The union said its invitation did not imply support or endorsement for Strauss-Kahn, adding that its speakers were selected regardless of their ideology, background or personal history. Individuals were chosen if they were deemed to be "interesting people whom our members would want to hear speak and whom they would like a chance to challenge and question," it said.

On Thursday evening activists defaced the Cambridge Union Society building with paint, posters and chalk with slogans including "This house supports rape culture". A 20-year-old man and 21-year-old woman were arrested.

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