Trading Room


afr.com.au Friday, April 14, 2000


World  Financial Review

ToolbarSearch ArchiveRecent Editions

News Update
News
World
Investment
Markets
Features
Information
Financial Services
Property
Editorial


Special Reports
Business Tax
GST
Managed Funds
Perspective
TheFin
Smart Money
Verbatim
Thoroughbreds
Enterprise
Millenium Matters - Y2K


Home
Feedback

AFR Books
Tokyo Observed  Jakarta Observed   China Observed  Europe Observed  Washington Observed

Previous Story

Next Story


Chinese brace for cult protest anniversary

By Michael Dwyer

Chinese authorities are bracing themselves for a new wave of protests by Falun gong activists in the lead-up to the first anniversary of last year's mass gathering of cult members in Beijing.

As many as 200 Falun gong members were arrested in Beijing's Tiananmen Square yesterday morning during a co-ordinated protest by the movement, which claims as many as 100 million adherents worldwide.

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre on Human Rights in China, yesterday's protest was sparked by expectations of a crackdown on the movement in the lead-up to the April 25 anniversary of last year's mass rally in Tiananmen Square.

The rally saw as many as 10,000 Falun gong members standing in a silent protest against a government ban on the movement.

The latest protest by the Falun gong is also timely, given next Tuesday's crucial vote at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva on a United States-sponsored motion condemning China's human rights record.

Washington has tried to move such a motion each year since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, but has been thwarted at each attempt.

The US claims to have bolstered its numbers for this year's vote, pointing to what it claims has been a significant deterioration in China's human rights record over the past 12 months.

Much of that deterioration, according to the US, has stemmed from the way Chinese authorities have cracked down on the Falun gong movement.

Many of the movement's members have received hefty jail terms in the past year, while its assets have been confiscated.

The movement claims that even in recent days the Chinese authorities have been trying to crash Falun gong websites operating out of the United States.



Back To Top  © This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
 



[About the AFR] [AFR Market Wrap] [AFR Books] [Executive Jobs] [Fairfax]
[Subscribe] [AFR Conferences] [Advertising] [Privacy Policy] [Letters]