RFI (Radio France Internationale): Demonstration Against Article 23 in Front of the Chinese Embassy in France

Radio France Internationale broadcast the following report on July 9th 2003, in its Chinese news program that reaches China and the Metropolitan area of Paris.

After the unprecedented demonstration parade on July 1st, which has forced the Hong Kong government to postpone the legislation of Article 23 in its Basic Law, appeal activities organised by the Hong Kong Civil Human Rights Front were held near Hong Kong’s Legislative Council at 6 o’clock in the afternoon of July 9th, according to the original schedule.

Several French organisations held a demonstration meeting against the enactment of Article 23 in front of the Chinese Embassy in France, located on Avenue George V in Zone 8 of Paris. This meeting was organised by the Chinese Democratic Party, the French Falun Dafa Association, the French Tibet Association and the Chinese Labour Union. Around fifty people attended the meeting. Banners with big characters protesting against Article 23 were hung on the nearby trees. During the four-hour meeting, the participants spoke in Chinese and French to introduce why they had to oppose the legislation of Article 23. The organiser of the meeting also used a video/audio system to broadcast recordings of the supporting speeches made by influential public figures.

The spokesman for the Chinese Democratic Party in France, Wu Jiang, told the reporters that the Chinese government is trying to bring dictatorship and autocracy to Hong Kong by the enactment of Article 23. The spokesman for French Falun Dafa Association, Zhang Jian-Ping indicated that the enactment of Article 23 was, to a great extent, targeting Falun Gong. Both of them said they request that the legislation of Article 23 is completely abandoned, not just postponed.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200307/22176.html