A woman protesting against European Central Bank policy showered ECB president Mario Draghi with paper and briefly shut down his regular news conference yesterday, before being carried away.
“End the ECB dictatorship,” the woman, who has not been named, shouted, throwing what appeared to be confetti and sheets of paper at the startled central banker.
Her T-shirt bore a similar message, spelling it “Dick-tatorship”.
Feminist activist group Femen, known for topless protests against what it sees as male “economic, cultural and ideological occupation”, claimed responsibility.
The woman, who flashed a V-for-victory sign and smiled as two men in grey suits bundled her away holding her arms and legs, was detained by Frankfurt police. The police said she is 21 and from Hamburg.
Draghi held up his hands as protection when the woman launched her protest, but was otherwise relatively unruffled. The news conference started again shortly afterwards.
The rest of the press conference could hardly match the excitement of the first minutes
ECB news conferences are usually sombre affairs, attended by reporters concerned with technical matters such as quantitative easing and asset-backed securities.
“The rest of the press conference could hardly match the excitement of the first minutes,” investment bank ING said of yesterday’s event. Draghi became a trending hashtag on Twitter – a rare event for a central banker.
The ECB head yesterday pledged to roll out the bank’s money-printing programme “firmly” and granted continued backing for Greece, saying there was no need yet to limit emergency funding for its banks. Describing speculation that the fledgling €60 billion a month scheme would be scaled back as “surprising”, Draghi underlined his determination to see through quantitative easing until September 2016, or until inflation was back up to target.
A protester jumping on the table in front of European Central Bank president Mario Draghi during a news conference in Frankfurt, yesterday. Photos: Reuters
Security officers detaining the female protester who showered Draghi with papers and confetti.“Our focus will be on the full implementation of our monetary policy measures,” he told the news conference after the ECB left interest rates at record lows. At the last count, eurozone inflation was running at -0.1 per cent. The ECB’s target is below but close to two per cent.
“Through these measures we will contribute to a further improvement in the economic outlook,” Draghi said, predicting that the economy would ‘strengthen gradually’.
The ECB’s main refinancing rate, which determines the cost of credit, is now just 0.05 per cent, while the ECB’s deposit rate, which means banks pay to park funds at the central bank and has the most influence on market rates, is -0.2 per cent.
Draghi said the deposit rate would not fall any lower.