[...]

Earlier, a symbolic protest by the Falun Gong group was cut short by the police minutes before Mr Jiang was due to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the War Memorial, in Floriana.

Six members of the Falun Gong international group - two Britons, two Austrians, an American and a Swede - flew to Malta to take part in the protests.

But minutes after the Falun Gong members, who were following police instructions to stand behind a fence near the car park, unfurled their banners to get their message seen by the Chinese President, a number of Chinese officials reacted frantically, grabbing their phones.

An embassy official soon approached the police and objected to their position and was heard telling the police to have them removed.

A Chinese official was also heard telling the police to get a bus to block the view of the protesters before the latter were politely asked by Assistant Police Commissioner John Rizzo to move to Freedom Square.

Mr Rizzo said they had already agreed to stage their protest at Freedom Square earlier yesterday and the protesters moved on without any objection, escorted by a considerable number of police and plain-clothes security men.

A number of American tourists who were standing next to the protesters were also mistakenly ordered to move to Freedom Square.

Strong police contingents sealed the area around the War Memorial as Mr Jiang laid flowers at the foot of the monument at 4.30 p.m.

Falun Gong claims that at least 255 of its members have been tortured to death, 10,000 sent to labour camps and 500 sentenced up to 18 years in prison by the Chinese state.

Wearing bright yellow T-shirts, protesters held banners reading "Stop killing Falun Gong practitioners in China" and "Zemin should be punished for what he has done".

Qian Lino Sing, a 25-year-old Oxford university student, told The Times she had been arrested, beaten up by the police for three days and then expelled from China in December 1999 simply because she admitted to being a member of Falun Gong.

"We simply want this tremendous injustice to end," Ms Qian said shortly before she was politely escorted out of the area by the police.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/article.php?id=17618

Posting date: 7/25/2001
Original article date: 7/25/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

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