Littleport man charged with obstructing Pc during protest as Strauss-Kahn arrived for Cambridge talk

A MAN from Littleport was charged with obstructing a police officer when hundreds protested outside a Cambridge union where Dominique Strauss-Kahn gave a controversial talk.

Hundreds of placard waving students protested outside Cambridge University’s Union Society last night as the former head of the International Monetary Fund arrived.

A 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with obstructing a police officer and will appear before Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on March 20.

Also arrested and charged were a 21-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man, both from Cambridge, on suspicion of criminal damage. They will appear at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on March 19.

The decision to invite Mr Strauss-Kahn, who faced charges of sexually assaulting New York maid Nafissatou Diallo, which were later dropped, was opposed by the women’s campaign of the Cambridge University Students Union (CUSU) who branded it an “abhorrent disregard” for survivors of sexual violence.

Earlier in the week CUSU had presented the Union Society with a 700-signature petition protesting at the decision to invite DSK, as he is often known, to speak in Cambridge.

But the Cambridge Union Society defended its decision saying he was invited for his expertise on matters of economics.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was bundled in through a side door with dozens of security guards and police at the scene.

No press or photographers were allowed to attend the talk.