Canberra, Australia - Followers of the spiritual group Falun Gong said Friday they were being persecuted by Chinese spies in Australia and called on the government to do more to protect them.
Members of the group backed claims by a defecting Chinese diplomat that a 1,000-strong spy network was operating in Australia and targeting groups such as Falun Gong, which was outlawed in China in 1999.
About 40 mostly Chinese-born Falun Gong practitioners, protesting outside the Supreme Court in the national capital Canberra, also filed a legal challenge against a government ban on their protests outside the Chinese Embassy.
Chinese immigrant Zhang Cui Ying, who lodged the legal action, said Chinese government spies had damaged her car on several occasions and had thrown a dying cat into the yard of her Sydney home in February.
"Even my neighbor found out that there are people watching our every movement so our lives are in fear and disturbed,'' Zhang, 42, said through an interpreter.
"I hope that the Australian government ... will clear out the spies and protect the peaceful environment for Australian people,'' she added.
Chen Yonglin, a consul for political affairs at China's Consulate-General in Sydney, approached immigration officials on May 26, handing them a letter in which he said he would rather die than return home and hinting he could turn over sensitive Chinese documents.
Despite the offer, Australia, which counts China as its third-largest trading partner, rejected Chen's initial request for asylum and he is now applying for a temporary visa usually granted to boat people fleeing persecution.
Senior Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday that Chen would not be sent back to China. But Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone, who might ultimately decide Chen's fate, refused to comment on the case Friday.
Falun Gong practitioner Geoff Gregory, a British-born Australian citizen, said he believed Chen's claim of a 1,000-strong spy network, which the Chinese government has dismissed as a fabrication.
"I've got no doubt that that's true,'' Gregory, a Sydney nurse, said at the protest. "Us Falun Gong practitioners, we have been persecuted by these people here in Australia.''
The protesters have launched a legal challenge of the government's ban on banners and amplified music being used by protesters outside the Chinese Embassy near Parliament House.
The ban has been enforced by police for 39 months. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has been signing monthly certificates under an international convention that limits Falun Gong's demonstrations in order to protect the "dignity'' of the embassy.
Protest spokeswoman Kay Rubacek said Australia was the only democratic country to use such certificates against peaceful protesters.
Downer's spokeswoman said it would not be appropriate to comment while legal action was before the court.