Mon, 1 Apr 2002

Protesters outside the Chinese Embassy in Canberra have been given until today to remove all signage from the site.

Activists have been based outside the Chinese Embassy for months using banners, music and silent meditation to protest against the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Recently all banners were removed and now Australian Federal Police have told organisers that all written material must be taken down from the site.

Falun Gong practitioner John Andress says the decision is likely to have an impact on all future protests outside embassies in Canberra.

"Obviously if this is going to be used against us, if a government from outside of Australia, such as the Chinese Government can put pressure on our Government to stop activities, this is going to eventually reflect on any group that is going to protest," he said.

http://abc.net.au/news/australia/act/metact-1apr2002-1.htm