Taipei - Dozens of Taiwanese followers of China's Falun Gong cult made use of the visit Sunday by some 1,600 mainland tourists to accuse China of suppressing the spiritual group, and the protesters were dispersed by police because they had not applied for a permit.

Unfurling banners reading 'Chinese Communists suppressing compatriots' and 'Down the tyrannical rule of the Chinese Communists,' the followers demonstrated at the Keelung Harbour as the tourists arrived.  

Surprised tourists - all employees of Amway China - shunned the protesters and hurried to the tour buses waiting to carry them to the capital city.

Last week, some pro-independence activists yelled at the first group of 1,600 Amway China employees who came to the island by a cruise vessel.

The group arriving Sunday was the second of nine planned by Amway.

Since July 2008, 105,000 Chinese tourists have visited Taiwan.

(Monsters and Critics, March 22, 2009)

Original text from: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1466060.php/Falun Gong _followers_protest_as_Chinese_tourists_arrive_in_Taiwan_