Re: Beijing's control now includes Canada's Tulip Festival

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Posted by NP on 08:01:49 2008/05/07

In Reply to: Band excluded from Tulip Festival: "The Chinese embassy is here. We don't want to upset them" posted by PR

Your browser does not support inline frames, or it has been configured incorrectly. If page does not display on your browser, please <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=497303">CLICK HERE</a>. Falun Gong band barred from performing National Post Canada.com Network Browse the Canada.com Network Home News Sports Entertainment Health Travel Obituaries Celebrating Contractors National Post Victoria Times Colonist The Province (Vancouver) Vancouver Sun Edmonton Journal Calgary Herald Regina Leader-Post Saskatoon StarPhoenix Windsor Star Ottawa Citizen The Gazette (Montreal) DOSE Vancouver Island Newspapers VANNET Newspapers Global TV Global National Global BC Global Calgary Global Edmonton Global Lethbridge Global Saskatoon Global Regina Global Winnipeg Global Ontario Global Quebec Global Maritimes E! CHEK NEWS CHCA NEWS CHCH NEWS CJNT Montreal TVTropolis X-treme Sports Specialty Channels Shop | Find a Career | Find a Car | Find a Home National Post Home News Opinion Arts Life Sports Multimedia Your Post NP Network Blogs Financial Post RSS Most Popular Today's Paper & Archive Digital Paper Home Delivery Newsletters Hot Topics Israel at 60 U.S. Election Driving Columnists Tax Centre Biz Startups Search var int_search_init = setInterval(function(){ if(document.forms['search']){ clearInterval(int_search_init); document.forms['search'].q.value = 'Search National Post...'; } }, 100); Home / Today's Paper Falun Gong band barred from performing Group says Tulip Festival planners caved to China Robert De Koninck, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Related Topics Falun Gong Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Grace Wollensak Louise Thibault-Little Story Tools - + Change font size Print this story function print_click() { u=location.href; u=delineate(u); window.open('/story-printer.html?id='+encodeURIComponent(u),'sharer','toolbar=1,status=1,location=0,menubar=1,scrollbars=1,width=650,height=600'); return false; } function delineate(str) { theleft = str.indexOf("=") + 1; theright = str.lastIndexOf("&"); if ( theright == -1 ) { theright = str.length; } return(str.substring(theleft, theright)); } E-Mail this story u=location.href; t=document.title; // Facebook Link function fbs_click() { window.open('<a style="font-weight:normal" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u">http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u</a>)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436'); return false; } // Digg Link function digg_click() { window.open('<a style="font-weight:normal" href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url='+encodeURIComponent(u">http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url='+encodeURIComponent(u</a>)+'&bodytext=&title='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer',''); return false; } // Delicious Link function dels_click() { window.open('<a style="font-weight:normal" href="http://del.icio.us/post?url='+encodeURIComponent(u">http://del.icio.us/post?url='+encodeURIComponent(u</a>)+'&jump=close&title='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=700,height=400'); return false; } Share This Story html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(<a style="font-weight:normal" href="http://static.ak.facebook.com/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?12:26981">http://static.ak.facebook.com/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?12:26981</a>) no-repeat top left; } Facebook Digg Del.icio.us More Story tools presented by try{ var str_da_src = document.getElementById('ad-leaderboard').getElementsByTagName('script')[0].src; str_da_src = str_da_src.replace(/loc=\w+;/gi, 'loc=microbar;'); str_da_src = str_da_src.replace(/sz=\d+x\d+;/gi, 'sz=88x31;'); str_da_src = str_da_src.replace(/ptile=\d+;/gi, 'ptile=4;'); document.write(' '); }catch(e){} OTTAWA - Moments before performing O Canada at Ottawa's Canadian Tulip Festival, members of a marching band claim they were suddenly banned because they were Falun Gong practitioners. The Tian Guo Marching Band -- who were escorted from the festival by Ottawa Police and the RCMP -- alleged festival organizers caved in to the demands of the Chinese Embassy, one of the festival's sponsors. At a press conference on Parliament Hill this week, representatives demanded the festival apologize and allow them to play their remaining engagements. "We came here to celebrate a cultural event, and our religion should not stop us from participating," band spokeswoman Grace Wollensak said. Festival organizers claim the band was not clear about its affiliation with the controversial religion, which is banned in China. Mrs. Wollensak said that when band representatives applied they sent festival organizers a link to the Tian Guo Marching Band Web site, which refers to its Falun Gong affiliation. She said problems started just before they were about to perform O Canada and The Maple Leaf Forever at the opening of the International Pavilion. Festival official Louise Thibault-Little stopped the band from getting on stage, Mrs. Wollensak said. "She rushed over and said, 'You are Falun Gong. You did not register with this name, this is disastrous to us. The Chinese Embassy is here, and we do not want to upset them,'" Mrs. Wollensak said. Organizers told the band they could play if they took off their blue jackets and yellow scarves, which are emblazoned with small Falun Gong emblems, Mrs. Wollensak said, but they refused. Another festival official then came backstage to tell the band its performance had been delayed until later in the evening. A short time later, Ottawa police and RCMP officers arrived to escort band members away. Mrs. Thibault-Little, the festival's director of partnerships and programming, eventually gave the band a letter saying the band had been barred from performing any of their other festival engagements. Mrs. Thibault-Little was not available for comment. "They registered with us as a marching band, and they arrived at the park dressed in Falun Gong regalia and banners, and we saw that as a protest. We felt that the festival was not the right place to protest," said Mr. Little. font_size(0); Close Presented by try{ var str_da_src = document.getElementById('ad-leaderboard').getElementsByTagName('script')[0].src; str_da_src = str_da_src.replace(/loc=\w+;/gi, 'loc=email_this_story;'); str_da_src = str_da_src.replace(/sz=\d+x\d+;/gi, 'sz=88x31;'); str_da_src = str_da_src.replace(/ptile=\d+;/gi, 'ptile=4;'); document.write(' '); }catch(e){} #commentform-narrow { display: none; } #recent-comments { width: auto; padding-top: 0.25em; margin: 0 0 1em 0; } #recent-comments #comment_head { font: bold 14px georgia, serif; } #recent-comments .comment_box { width: auto; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } tour_comments_off = true; Reader Discussion #comment_top { Xborder-top: #ccc 1px solid; } #commentform-narrow { float: none; width: auto; } More From National Post Review on police immunity delayed National Post - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Pipeline plan revived National Post - Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007 The costly reality of fakes National Post - Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007 Lawyer claims case is 'purely political' National Post - Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 Lessons from talking heads National Post - Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 More From the Web Questions remain in Deerpark death The Times Herald-Record - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 Chinese Spectacular AdelaideNow - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 Falun Gong band plucked from Ottawa Tulip Festival... 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