Thousands protest lockdown in Sydney, several arrested

SYDNEY (AP) — Thousands of people took to the streets of Sydney and other Australian cities on Saturday to protest lockdown restrictions amid another surge in cases, and police made several arrests after crowds broke through barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants.

The unmasked participants marched from Sydney’s Victoria Park to Town Hall in the central business district, carrying signs calling for “freedom” and “the truth.”

There was a heavy police presence in Sydney, including mounted police and riot officers in response to what authorities said was unauthorized protest activity. Police confirmed a number of arrests had been made after objects were thrown at officers.

New South Wales Police said it recognized and supported the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, but the protest was a breach of public health orders.

“The priority for NSW Police is always the safety of the wider community,” a police statement said

The protest comes as COVID-19 case numbers in the state reached another record with 163 new infections in the last 24 hours.

Greater Sydney has been locked down for the past four weeks, with residents only able to leave home with a reasonable excuse.

“We live in a democracy and normally I am certainly one who supports people’s rights to protest … but at the present time we’ve got cases going through the roof and we have people thinking that’s OK to get out there and possibly be close to each other at a demonstration,” said state Health Minister Brad Hazzard.

In Melbourne, thousands of protesters without masks turned out downtown chanting “freedom.” Some of them lit flares as they gathered outside Victoria state’s Parliament House.

They held banners, including one that read: “This is not about a virus it’s about total government control of the people.”

A car protest rally is also planned in Adelaide, which is also under lockdown, with police warning they will make arrests over unlawful activity.

By Friday, 15.4% of the nation’s population aged 16 and above have received both jabs for COVID-19.

“We’ve turned the corner, we’ve got it sorted. We’re hitting the marks that we need to make, a million doses a week are now being delivered,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. “We are well on our way to where we want to be by the end of the year and potentially sooner than that.”

The federal government said it will send thousands of extra Pfizer doses to Sydney while adults in Australia’s largest city are also being urged to “strongly consider” AstraZeneca in view of the scarcity of Pfizer supplies.

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US dials back probe of Chinese scientists on visa fraud charges

FBI files motions in federal courts to dismiss charges in five cases of Chinese researchers arrested on visa fraud charges last year.

A US Department of Justice programme aimed at protecting American technology from China dropped five prosecutions of Chinese scientists after a draft of an internal FBI analysis questioned a main premise for the investigations, according to court documents.

The “China Initiative” had been criticised by civil liberties advocates as racially biased, and judges in several court proceedings had expressed scepticism about the FBI’s tactics in interrogating the scientists.

On Thursday and Friday, the US government filed motions in federal courts to dismiss charges in five cases of Chinese researchers arrested on visa fraud charges last year.

All pleaded not guilty to falsifying visa applications to conceal military ties as well as other charges.

The motions to dismiss the cases coincides with the new Biden administration’s Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visiting China on Sunday and Monday.

All five arrests occurred about a year ago when US-China relations were at a low point and now the world’s two largest economies are seeking to navigate a troubled relationship.

‘Re-evaluation’

The Justice Department said in a statement that it was dismissing the cases in the “interest of justice”.

US-based Chinese officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the development.

“Recent developments in a handful of cases involving defendants with alleged, undisclosed ties to the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China have prompted the Department to re-evaluate these prosecutions,” a statement by Justice Department spokesperson Wyn Hornbuckle said, without detailing what those developments were.

US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, left, seen here with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong in Seoul on Thursday is heading to Beijing for talks on Sunday and Monday [Song Kyung-seok/Reuters]

Court documents filed this month in two cases included FBI draft analysis that questioned how useful the investigation was in safeguarding technology developed in the United States. The report said that the visa application question about military service that ensnared the scientists was unclear.

The analysis was written in reaction to the China Tech Transfer Analysis Unit at the FBI being nominated for an award in February for the “high impact” of the “arrests of the PLA students”. PLA refers to the Chinese military.

The FBI unit leader disagreed on the impact of the arrests and removed the unit from the award nominations, according to the court documents.

Asked about the court filing, a Justice Department official answered by email that the “draft analysis prompted follow up questions and requests from defense counsel that we could not resolve before Monday’s trial date.”

One of the cases was scheduled to start on Monday.

The official said that in most of the cases the sentences would be a year or less and that the defendants have had their liberty restricted for that time whether in jail or out on bail.

Defence lawyers have said their clients’ only “crime” is running afoul of US-China politics.

John Hemann, a lawyer for Chinese brain researcher Song Chen, said they were “grateful and relieved” the case against her had been dismissed and “the government has done the right thing.”

SOURCE: REUTERS

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