19 September 2002, (Australian Falun Dafa Information Centre) – Mr Li Peng’s visit to Canberra has triggered the most serious abrogation yet by the Australian Government of its citizen’s rights to appeal and demonstrate in Australia. Once again, this has resulted from pressure put on the Government by Chinese officials.
In March 2002, during the visit of China’s Foreign Minister Mr Tang, Australia’s Foreign Minister Mr Downer issued two certificates prohibiting Falun Gong practitioners from displaying any banners or using amplified sound within 100 metres of the Chinese Embassy. This was to prevent the “impairment of dignity” of the Embassy. Every month since then, Mr Downer has reinstated these same certificates, even though practitioners voluntarily removed both the banners and the sound equipment in March.
On Monday, 16 September, three Falun Gong practitioners went to the Chinese Embassy to continue their on-going appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong in China. At around 8:30 am, they set a banner with “Falun Dafa” on one side and the Chinese characters on the other side, some 150 metres away from the Embassy at the corner of Coronation Drive and Commonwealth Avenue, near the British High Commission. They then set up three flags (“Falun Dafa” and “Truth-Compassion-Forbearance” in both Chinese and English, along with an Australian flag) across from the Embassy, as usual.
Around 9:00 am, the practitioners noticed the banner up the street had disappeared. One of the practitioners told police officers on duty there that the banner was missing. The officers said that other police had taken the banner and it would be returned at a later time.
Later in the day, two police cars drove close to the site of the appeal across from the Embassy and parked on the pedestrian path on each side of the three flags. Around 6:20 pm, a police 4WD and police horse float truck arrived and parked some 30-40 metres east of the appeal site across from the Embassy, and then at about 6:25 pm, as Mr Li Peng’s motorcade approached the roundabout at Flinn Drive and Coronation Drive to enter the Embassy, the police 4WD and police horse float truck moved up and parked right in front of the flags and practitioners, just in time to block the appeal from the view of Li Peng’s motorcade. This was purposely done to keep the practitioners and the flags from being seen by Mr Li Peng.
Both of these incidents are a very serious curtailing and infringement of the rights of Australian citizens to legally appeal and demonstrate in Australia. There was no demonstration against Li Peng by Falun Gong practitioners, only the regular appeal that has been on-going since May 2001 across from the Embassy to make people aware of the brutal persecution of practitioners by the Jiang regime in China.
Because the Jiang regime has been unsuccessful in stomping out Falun Gong in China, it has exported and extended its persecution overseas in an attempt to turn other governments against Falun Gong. The brutal and barbaric persecution of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners in China is completely unacceptable behaviour by the Jiang regime, and we appeal to the Australian government to speak out at every opportunity against these human rights violations.
For more information, please contact: Tory Kelly-Clark 0414-435 616, Tony Dai 0416 234 095, John Andress 0410 503 455
Web Site: www.falunau.org Email: news@falunau.org
