AN INNOCENT tourist was ejected from last night’s performance of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo as police swooped on pro-Tibet campaigners.
Protest organisers today claimed the bewildered tourist, who is thought to be from the United States, was thrown out of the event along with two MSPs after police disrupted a planned demonstration by about 20 campaigners from the stands.
MSPs Mike Pringle and Chris Ballance were among an organised group of protesters who were removed from the Castle Esplanade arena after police stepped in to prevent their plans from going ahead.
The tourist, who is said to have swapped seats with one of the campaigners to get a better view, was caught up in the drama and herded out with the rest of the group.
Police intervened just as demonstrators were about to unfurl banners protesting at the presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Anne Callaghan, campaign manager of the Free Tibet Campaign, said the tourist had been caught up in the group of “decoy” protestors.
She said: “One person was taken out with the rest of the group after a swapping of seats. Someone changed seats to get a better view and unfortunately they were within the group of decoys. The police had the tickets marked as to where campaigners were sitting.
“As far as we are aware the tourist was allowed to go back to their seat.”
A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman added: “The only people ejected from the performance were campaigners for the Free Tibet Campaign. We have not been made aware of anyone else having been ejected. If this person wants to contact the police about any concerns we would be happy to discuss it with them.”
Mr Pringle, Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh South, and Green MSP Chris Ballance joined other pro-Tibet campaigners in holding up banners saying: “Don’t Applaud Chinese Genocide” in front of a sell-out crowd of 8000 last night.
But ten plain clothes police officers had been positioned in seats immediately in front of the demonstrators and acted quickly to remove them.
The pro-Tibet campaigners describe the Chinese PLA as a symbol of brutality. Tibet was overrun by 400,000 members of the PLA in 1950 and is still under military rule. The PLA was also involved in the 1989 massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square.
The protest was staged on the night the famous Red Arrows flew over the Castle as part of the Tattoo after completing an earlier fly-over to mark the 40th anniversary of the Forth Road Bridge.
