U.S. Sen. Carl Levin got an apple pie in the face Monday morning during a question-and-answer session for the Mecosta County Democrats at a Big Rapids deli.

A young man and woman were behind the the pastry attack. They have taken issue in the past with Levin and his stance on foreign policy and defense of Israel.

Witnesses at Pepper’s Café and Deli said that as the Detroit Democrat asked the audience to let Max Kantar, 23, of Big Rapids have his say on Levin’s stance, Ahlam Mohsen of Coldwater circled behind and squashed a pie into the 76-year-old senator’s face.

While the pair hustled out of the café, Levin made easygoing comments about it while cleaning himself off, said 22-year-old Tiffany Kelley, a student who works there.

“He made jokes about it and said it wasn’t the first time he’d been pied in the face,” she said. “He said he prefers blueberry.”

Big Rapids police said 22-year-old Mohsen was arrested not far from the deli and charged with assault and disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear Monday afternoon whether she was still being held.

Nico Rubello, a reporter for the Big Rapids Pioneer, said Levin stuck around and answered more questions after the incident. His newspaper reported that the man who asked the question was Kantar, and it also quoted Mohsen as saying, “We wanted to target Levin today to send a message that liberals and Democrats are just as implicated in the violence (of war) as the Republicans.”

According to a January 2009 article on the State News Web site at Michigan State University, Mohsen, an MSU student at the time, and Kantar, a student at Ferris State University, were arrested for organizing a sit-in outside Levin’s office to speak to him about his support of Israel.

Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Monday afternoon saying he holds meetings like this one so he can hear from Michiganders “and I’m more than willing to hear from people who disagree with me.”

“Two young people took advantage of the gathering to read a long statement accusing senators of war crimes, and one of the young people threw a pie in my face,” Levin said. “They didn’t hurt me, but they hurt their cause even more than their own extreme words had already done.”

(Source: Freep.com)