Protester's new campaign: Make Bono history

Bill Clinton (left) arrives on stage as Bono impersonates him at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York yesterday. Photo / AP

Bono has spoken about being chased down the street by German anarchists wielding placards shouting "Make Bono history!"

The U2 frontman, who yesterday appeared alongside former United States President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, said he was confronted during the G8 summit by protesters who turned the "Make poverty history" slogan against him.

He told the Observer: "Even as I was running for my life, I thought [it] was a pretty good line." He said that in the same week he was booed on stage in Arusha, Tanzania, at the TED conference which he had campaigned to have there.

"I had a great week not long ago. I was booed by the young entrepreneurs in the audience who thought I was peddling this idea of a supplicant Africa, which I happen to think couldn't be further from the truth.

"So, we're doing something right - we're annoying both the capitalists in Africa and the anti-capitalists in Europe. The thing is I'm not an idealist, never was, I'm just quite pragmatic about finding solutions."

Eamon Gilmore, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister, has invited the U2 star to his constituency office to discuss the Government's tax policy after Bono's defence of the band's decision to pay tax offshore.

Yesterday the U2 singer entertained the audience at the Clinton event with an impromptu impersonation.

Waiting for Clinton, Bono sat in the former President's seat and, capturing the Arkansas twang, said: "When I first met Bono, he walked into the Oval Office and I thought he was a member of his own road crew, he wasn't dressed right. Actually, I felt like the rock star."

A visibly amused Clinton finally appeared on stage, smiled and said, "I must be really easy to make fun of."

- Independent