Stefanovic: Falun Gong activists deported

BELGRADE - Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said Thursday that Serbia deported the Falun Gong activists who tried to stage a protest during the visit by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the summit in Belgrade.

The activists were deported on Wednesday, Stefanovic told reporters, adding that the reason for their detention was the attempt to stage a protest despite a ban on public gatherings.

Several members of the cult who are foreign nationals intended to organize a rally despite the warning that a ban on all public gatherings is in place during the visit of the Chinese prime minister, the propaganda material they were carrying was seized, these persons were identified and detained, said Stefanovic.

Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) Milan Antonijevic on Thursday demanded the authorities to explain why 11 foreign nationals, from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Russia and Finland, were detained by the police ahead of the meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries in Belgrade.

Photo Tanjug, O. Toskic