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The Australian (Australian national newspaper): Australians expelled from China November 21, 2001 CHINA has expelled four Australians after their arrest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square for protesting against the country's crackdown on the banned Falun Gong [group]. Their expulsion came as some foreign protesters arrested claimed to have been assaulted by Beijing police. The Department of Foreign Affairs said it had been advised today the four Australians were being deported on the next available flight to Australia. A DFAT spokeswoman said Australian embassy officials in Beijing had not been able to gain access to the detainees. Kate Douglas, 21, and Chris Cominos (Cominos), aged in his 30s, both from Melbourne and Myrna Mack (Myrna Mack), 50, and Kay Belonogoff (Belonogoff), 22, from Sydney, were arrested during a protest in Tiananmen Square yesterday afternoon. They were among 35 foreigners from countries including Germany, France, the United States, Sweden, Britain and Canada who had staged a peaceful protest against China's human rights record. The other protesters have also been deported. The protest marked the first major demonstration by Falun Gong in months, all the more notable because all the participants were foreigners and none were ethnic Chinese. One Swiss protester said police had punched and sexually assaulted at least five in the group.
"We have contact with 10 people and five of them have reported this (mistreatment)," the protester told German news agency DPA by phone from Beijing's airport. He said the five other protesters told him of maltreatment including body punches, armlocks around the neck, and throwing to the ground. One woman said she was grabbed between the legs during her interview by police, and another had her hair pulled, he said. None of the group reported serious injuries. Australian Falun Gong practitioners welcomed the release of their colleagues, but also said some had complained of violence. Caterina Vereshaka, from Melbourne, said the Australian members of the group knew they could be arrested when they decided to take part in the protest. "The plan was just to do a peaceful meditation session for 10 minutes, unfurl banners, and then get up and go back to the hotel, but we knew that might not happen," she told AAP. "We were quite worried about their safety because we were not sure what they (the police) would do.
"We were really hoping that they would just get deported. I think it's pretty good that they haven't suffered any mistreatment, although they have been slapped around a bit." Ms Douglas' fiance, Simon Vereshaka (Vereshaka), said he was relieved she was safe, but was unsure whether the arrests would deter other foreigners staging similar protests. "It's an individual action and if people want to peacefully appeal, that's up to them. Whether it deters them or not, I don't know," he told AAP. Fellow practitioner Caroline Lam, of Sydney, said Mr Cominos telephoned her as he was being arrested and claimed some protesters were being assaulted. "Chris said one of them had their fingers pushed back and another had her hair pulled, so there's been violence towards them," she said. Ms Lam said no-one had been able to contact the four since their arrest. China banned Falun Gong in 1999, [...].
Since the ban, tens of thousands of followers have been rounded up and jailed or sentenced without trial to prison terms in Chinese labour camps.
Posting date: 11/22/2001 |