Falun Gong at May Fayre

5.43.14pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 10th May 2004

Jenny Tonge MP and Susan Kramer PPC with the dancers from the Falun Gong movement

Falun Gong, the spiritual movement banned in China came to Richmond on Saturday May 8th for the May Fayre. Movement members danced to promote their campaign to free fellow Falun Gong members in China.

Susan Kramer, Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park, "These graceful dancers rather outclassed local MP Jenny Tonge, and myself. It's appalling to think that this lovely dance would be treated as breaking the law in China."

Jenny Tonge MP, "With Premier Wen Jiabao of China currently visiting the country you would have thought that this would be a terrific opportunity for Tony Blair to raise the issue of freedom of religious and cultural practice in China. Instead he has been forced to defend his own record on human rights based on the reports of the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition troops.

"This is a sorry and embarrassing state of affairs. Protestors from the Free Tibet movement and the Falun Gong movement are desperately trying to highlight their plight, and Mr Blair needs to put his own problems to one side and listen to what they have to say."