A jobless man angry for not receiving unemployment benefits threw his shoes at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Monday while he was speaking at a ceremony in the city of Sari in Mazandaran province. The shoes missed the president, who dodged it, and hit the banner behind him instead.

The crowd attending the memorial ceremony for Ali Kordan, a Revolutionary Guard member and former interior minister, beat up the shoe thrower, identified as Rashid S., 45, a former textile worker from Sari, before security personnel intervened and arrested him.

In Middle Eastern culture, throwing shoes at a person is a highly disrespectful act.

The attendees apologised to Ahmadinejad and chanted slogans supporting him.

The Payvand news Web site quoted a report from the Iranian site Khabaronline.ir that Rashid was among a group of laid-off textile workers who interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech to protest about their unpaid wages and unemployment. Rashid sat near the front seats and suddenly rose to throw his shoes at the president while he was speaking.

According to Ghased News, it was the second time that Rashid threw his shoes at an Iranian leader. He had been jailed for throwing eggs and tomatoes at former President Mohammad Khatami.

The incident was reminiscent of the shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist at then-U.S. President George W. Bush while the latter was speaking at a news conference in Baghdad in December 2008. Bush, like Ahmadinejad, dodged the shoes thrown at him one after the other.

The reporter, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, was showing his anger for Bush for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He was arrested after the incident and jailed for nine months.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.