Protests continue against bringing nine Chinese TV channels to Canada
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TORONTO (CP) - About two dozen people angered by attempts to bring controversial Chinese-language television channels to Canada protested Thursday outside the headquarters of Rogers Cable.
Demonstrators lined the sidewalk outside the downtown office building and silently held up placards calling for the broadcaster to end its application to air the channels. The group Canadians Against Propaganda said the channels are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and warned that programming would incite hatred over the airwaves.
"They will propagate the (CCP) ideology," said protest organizer Elaine Xie.
"It is propaganda and it should not be allowed to broadcast in Canada. It's against humanity."
The group said the party has previously produced programs that celebrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and tried to cover up the SARS outbreak in China.
Xie said the party also has a history of attacking Christians, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, and Taiwan.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is soliciting public opinion on the channels before making a decision on whether to allow broadcast.
An original deadline for submissions has been extended after a flood of petitions, form letters, and close to 400 comments both in support of and against the channels was sent to the CRTC.
Xie said they planned to present the federal regulator with damning evidence.
"We have tapes from those nine TV channels and how they incite hatred. We will file enough evidence for the CRTC to make a good decision," Xie said.
Rogers could not be reached for comment.
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TORONTO (CP) - About two dozen people angered by attempts to bring controversial Chinese-language television channels to Canada protested Thursday outside the headquarters of Rogers Cable.
Demonstrators lined the sidewalk outside the downtown office building and silently held up placards calling for the broadcaster to end its application to air the channels. The group Canadians Against Propaganda said the channels are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and warned that programming would incite hatred over the airwaves.
"They will propagate the (CCP) ideology," said protest organizer Elaine Xie.
"It is propaganda and it should not be allowed to broadcast in Canada. It's against humanity."
The group said the party has previously produced programs that celebrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and tried to cover up the SARS outbreak in China.
Xie said the party also has a history of attacking Christians, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, and Taiwan.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is soliciting public opinion on the channels before making a decision on whether to allow broadcast.
An original deadline for submissions has been extended after a flood of petitions, form letters, and close to 400 comments both in support of and against the channels was sent to the CRTC.
Xie said they planned to present the federal regulator with damning evidence.
"We have tapes from those nine TV channels and how they incite hatred. We will file enough evidence for the CRTC to make a good decision," Xie said.
Rogers could not be reached for comment.