Lameness Attacks the Falun Gong

The Taipei Times is reporting today that the Tainan City Government is going to start to 'persuade' the Falun Dong to move from their current position at Fort Provincia (Chihkan Tower) in Tainan.

The article refers to them as 'protesters' which is true because they are protesting the mistreatment of the Falun Gong by the Chinese Government, but 'protesters' can be a bit of a strong word. Their form of protesting is having a stand on the sidewalk with big signs and pamphlets of information available, not making a ruckus as the article implies. I thought this was rather amusing:

According to city officials, Falun Gong devotees have gathered in front of the fort for a long time, which officials believe has put tremendous pressure on the city’s tourism.

The fort is one of Tainan's busiest tourist attractions and is packed with people on the weekend. The idea that the Falun Gong has put pressure on the tourism industry is not only ridiculous, but a lie.

This line made me laugh:

They also post signs, which he said violate traffic regulations restricting the posting of advertisements.

The city cares about signs by the road? I must have missed that memo. While I'll give the City credit for doing a lot of work cleaning up Tainan the last few years, they have definitely not started caring about 'traffic regulations'.

Unfortunately the real reason for moving the Falun Gong is not traffic regulations (NOTE: If this was part of a wider movement to clean up the traffic and sidewalks in Tainan I would support it), but shielding Chinese tourists from information:

The city was particularly concerned about the possibility of a repeat of an incident on June 21 as the city gears up to welcome the expected influx of Chinese tourists next month.

On that day, a delegation of Chinese travel representatives visited the historic Fort Provincia in Tainan City. The fort was built in 1653.

Fearing that Chinese visitors would clash with the Falun Gong protesters gathered at the fort, the city government reportedly moved the protesters to another spot before arranging for the representatives to enter the fort via a side door.

In view of the city government’s handling of the Falun Gong devotees, some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors yesterday expressed concern about the matter, calling on the city government not to remove or use any forceful action against the group.

If Taiwan is going to be letting Chinese tourists in on a large scale this is the last thing they should be doing. Moving protests? Shuttling Chinese visitors through side doors? The government should be trying to expose them to the freedom of opinion that Taiwan enjoys, not hiding them from it. I'm disappointed in Tainan. Putting money before freedom of speech is not a promising sign for the city or Taiwan.