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大使馆官员不知可有到场旁听?大使馆离地方法院不远。
很担心这五位兄弟。无论如何,如果定罪留了案底,日后非常麻烦。
希望摊主在“不欢迎政治话题”招牌下日理万姬自我检查的同时
给这五位弟兄实质的帮助。
Charges Pressed After Unsettling Torch Relay
By Matthew Robertson and Shar Adams
Epoch Times Australia Staff Apr 30, 2008
Related Articles
- Large Numbers of Tibetans Arrested, Families Not Informed Wednesday, April 30, 2008
- China Jails 17 for Tibet Protests Tuesday, April 29, 2008
- Chinese Students Assault Korean Protesters at Olympic Torch Relay Sunday, April 27, 2008
- Protests Greet the Olympic Torch in Japan Saturday, April 26, 2008
- Chinese Embassy Secretly Organizes Overseas Chinese Students to Support Olympic Torch Relay in Japan Friday, April 25, 2008
Five pro-China Chinese nationals and two supporters of human rights in Tibet will appear in the Australia Capital Territory (ACT) Magistrates Court later this week following their arrest during the Australian leg of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay.
Spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Constable Helena Cox told The Epoch Times that seven people had been arrested under Section 15 of the Major Events Act.
"I believe five were Chinese and two were pro Tibetan," she said.
All seven people were bailed from the watch house after a few hours on the day and will appear in the ACT court Thursday or Friday of this week, she explained.
Constable Cox said the maximum penalty if convicted under Section 15, which is "basically interfering or doing an act that disrupts a major event", was a fine of $1100.
While Constable Cox was unable to verify if any of the arrested were students, it is likely that there will be some Chinese students appearing before the courts at the end of the week.
A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration said student visas could be cancelled "according to a character requirement" as laid out in the department's guidelines, but any visa cancellations were considered on "a case-by-case basis".
According to those guidelines, a person will fail a character test if they "harass, molest, intimidate or stalk another person in Australia, vilify a segment of the Australian community or incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community".
Unsettling Scenes
What the courts decide remains to be seen, but reports from the day indicated some quite unsettling developments.
The ceremony area for the Canberra Olympic Torch Relay at Reconciliation Place was cordoned off on four sides on the day of the torch relay, Thursday April 24, with three sides brimming with Chinese students draped in red flags.
Tibetans and East Turkistan supporters had nestled themselves along one fence line and police kept the groups separate.
Thousands of Chinese students had been bussed in on an estimated 80 buses from as far away as Brisbane and Adelaide.
Chinese language student websites were reported to be offering free travel, food and accommodation for those who wished to participate.
Commenting on reports of Chinese Embassy involvement in organising the students, Chief Minister for the ACT John Stanhope said he was aware of "contact" between the embassy and some of the Chinese groups.
Constable Cox said the AFP "had been very happy" with their management of the event. Reports of violence and abuse from the overzealous pro-Chinese lobby, however, continued to surface throughout the day.
Nicki Elliott, a caretaker and Tibet protester, told The Epoch Times that she had attempted to engage in discussion with Chinese students. She and her friends carried photos of Tibetans who had been shot by the regime. "Some girls…were trying to understand why we had these pictures and they were trying to tell us it was propaganda against the Chinese Government, that they weren't Tibetans and that everything we've heard about Tibet is not true. She just kept saying: 'We believe the Government. We believe the Government.'"
Her friend, Nicolas, recounted another exchange with young Chinese males. "They were calling her a b**** and every kind of insult. That's fanaticism."
Nicki said: "They didn't understand that I was even interested in what they wanted to say and they were just very aggressive and very in my face – 'Chinese Government! Chinese Government!"
Sally, who did not want to give her real name because her husband wants to return to Tibet, was with Nicolas and Nicki. "We were going to walk across the bridge, but this guy told us not to, a young Western guy who had a [Tibetan] flag. They beat him up; he was really shaken and had tears in his eyes."
She said she explained the reason she had come to protest, but the Chinese students rejected it and rejected that she was married to a Tibetan, and claimed that they had each been paid $300 to come.
Other pro-Tibet supporters said they had flags wrenched from their hands or from around their necks, that they were spat on, had their balloons popped, had Chinese flags draped over them, were abused, told to "**** off!" or, in what they thought was an ironic twist coming from Chinese exchange students, to "Go home!" or "Go home mother ******!" Chen Yonglin, the escaped Chinese diplomat who is now a resident of Australia, was also at the event.
Greens Senator Bob Brown. (The Epoch Times)"These people, this young generation, have been spiritually brainwashed," he said of the students. "They are ignorant of history…For example, they don't know even the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement and they don't know even the Cultural Revolution.
"These people are young Red Guards," he continued. "They are the same, totally. They're brainless. They just, when the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] calls on them to do something, they will do it.
"They're quite timid, actually," Mr Chen added. "I told them: 'Go back to China and demonstrate in the streets,' and they just don't know how to respond."
Greens Senator Bob Brown, who was also there on the day, spelled it out further.
"If this was Beijing, we would be arrested and in jail simply for having the freedom to speak," he told NTD.
Chinese students, however, remained strident in their views. Chinese student activist Zhang Rongan told The Epoch Times that he was pleased with how the day went and felt it was a harmonious celebration of the Olympic Games and torch relay. He said the violence in Tibet was orchestrated by a terrorist minority supportive of the Dalai Lama. He denied accusations of violence on the day by pro-Chinese students and said the pro-Tibet protesters are "brainwashed by the Dalai Lama".
[ 本帖最后由 ddec2007 于 2008-5-3 01:49 编辑 ] |
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