Protests dog Hu visit

The Australian

CHINESE leader Hu Jintao has been tailed by protesters after arriving in Seattle on the first stop of his US visit, with signs and chants denouncing China's treatment of Falun Gong members and calling for the release of dissidents. Dozens of demonstrators lined the streets outside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle, where Mr Hu was staying, holding large banners and using bullhorns to try to grab his attention as his motorcade whisked through.

"Nazi-like brutal genocide concentration camps is re-emerging in China," one sign by the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement said outside the hotel.

"Free Tibet! China Get Out of Tibet," Tibetans and Tibet rights advocates shouted.

Across the street, however, a handful of Chinese dressed in traditional silk outfits played drums and and waved Chinese flags.

The protesters were peaceful and orderly. No confrontations occurred.

Perhaps due to the expected loud protests in the United States, security was tighter at his hotel than usual.

Journalists were not allowed to enter the hotel or wait outside, in contrast to common practice when Mr Hu is overseas.

"This time it will be different," a foreign ministry official said, without explaining why.

Protesters followed Mr Hu everywhere, waiting at street corners along his route to areas he visits including the Microsoft campus.

Several Falun Gong members sat on the lawn of the Microsoft compound, with legs folded, meditating.

"Falun Dafa (Gong) is Good," the group's sign said. China banned the group as an "evil cult" in 1999 and has jailed tens of thousands of its members.

Other protesters quietly held up signs demanding the release of locked up dissidents, including US permanent resident Yang Jianli, whose case is expected to be raised by US President George W. Bush during a summit in Washington tomorrow.

Still others called for lifting of Internet restrictions, including shutting down politically sensitive websites and jailing web masters and writers for expressing their opinions.

One sign also addressed to Microsoft founder Bill Gates said: "Bill and Hu, Free the Web."

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Source: "The Australian".