SYDNEY (Pacific Media Watch / Islands Business / ABC / Fiji Broadcasting Corporation): Proptesters greeted Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at an election rally he held in Sydney over the weekend.
The first democratic election in Fiji in eight years is set for September 17 and Bainimarama, who has ruled the country since he overthrew the government in a coup in 2006, is standing for election. He has visited Fijian communities in New Zealand and Australia as part of his elections campaign.
ABC reported that opponents of Bainimarama were not allowed into the meeting in Canterbury, Sydney, on Saturday.
Usaia Waqatairewa, national president of the Sydney-based Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement, said about 200 people had joined the protest outside the Canterbury hall, and they were displeased at being barred from asking questions of Bainimarama.
ABC reporter Jemima Garrett said two former Fiji cabinet ministers were pushed across the road in the bid to keep protesters out. Bainimarama had to enter the venue through the back door as the crowd of protesters grew.
"Opponents outnumbered supporters," ABC reported.
Waqatairewa said his group had been calling for Bainimarama to stand down and cede control to a caretaker government until polls could be held, because "human rights were in question and the press had been muzzled", Islands Business and the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Nikhil Singh of Unions New South Wales said his organisation was "absolutely disgusted with the behaviour of the Abbott government by allowing a dictator to enter Australia. They have not done this to other dictators. We question why Frank Bainimarama".
There are more than 55,000 Fiji-born people in Australia and thousands are eligible to vote, Islands Business reported.
ABC reporter Jemima Garrett said she was not allowed in to another separate media event even though the ABC had been invited. Instead, only "hand-picked Fiji journalists" were admitted.
Pacific Scoop Fiji elections coverage
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