Protest punctures Mr. Hu's welcome to the White House

By Aussiegirl

This was an excellent demonstration of free speech in America -- what a brave woman! China is not our friend -- and their repression of the Falun Gong and other religious groups is despicable. It's simply immoral that our Wall Street types are so eager to overlook the human rights abuses of this evil giant in order to chase the almighty dollar. China deals in human organs from its prisoners, both criminal and political. It represses free speech. It regularly imprisons and tortures countless thousands. And Google, Yahoo, and all the others gladly help them do it -- all for profit. How is this different than companies providing the Germans the gas to kill the Jews in the camps? That was for profit too. There must be a limit to free trade -- it has to stop at the door of human rights and decency.

Protest punctures Mr Hu's welcome to White House - World - Times Online

President Bush welcomed the Chinese President to the White House today - if not with all the panoply of a state visit then at least with full military honours.

It is Hu Jintao's first visit to Washington as Chinese leader, and he smiled broadly and acknowledged the crowds as he and his wife stepped out of their black limousine onto the red carpet.

The smooth progress of the visit was interrupted, however, when a woman of Chinese appearance in a dark green suit launched herself from a roped off area on the lawn, shouting, in an attempt to prevent Mr Hu from making a speech.

"Falun Dafa is good!" the woman screamed, as Mr Hu was making his opening remarks. Her voice was so loud that Mr Bush turned to look, appearing visibly embarrassed.

Within seconds she was led away, struggling and still crying out, by a group of uniformed White House staff. It is understood that she was complaining about the lack of religious freedom in China for practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

After the protester had been removed, Mr Hu responded with an apparently blander speech, praising the sacrifices of US servicemen in the Far East during the Second World War in their "common struggle against fascism". [...]

Hundreds of protesters from a range of causes kept up demonstrations outside the White House gates from the early morning, including members of Falun Gong, which the Chinese government condemns as an evil cult.

Marchers banged gongs, chanted and waved American and Chinese flags. Banners denounced Hu as a "Chinese dictator", responsible for genocide and other "crimes in Chinese labour camps and prisons".