By ANGIE BROWN
THE head of a Chinese military band performing at this year’s controversial Edinburgh Military Tattoo yesterday made a plea for protesters to leave his performers alone.
In a rare interview, held in the grounds of Edinburgh Castle, Senior Colonel Hai Yu, the chairman of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) band, expressed his disappointment at being “unfairly” targeted by demonstrators during the three-week event.
Speaking for the first time about the protests his group faces around the world, the 49-year-old insisted they were merely musicians who were not involved in China’s politics.
The interview, conducted through an interpreter, follows demonstrations against the group representing the PLA, which is known for ruthless treatment of dissidents and for killing pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Supporters of the campaign to free Tibet, which was overrun by 40,000 members of the PLA in 1950 and is still under military rule, were upset by the Tattoo’s decision to invite a Chinese army band this year.
Col Hai said through translator Difan Hu, a 38-year-old trumpet player from central China’s Hunan Province, who has been with the band since 1981, that the protests would not discourage them from returning to Edinburgh.
“We are enjoying ourselves very much in Edinburgh, which is a beautiful city, but we are disappointed with the demonstrators who are targeting us.
“We are not armed with guns but instead instruments, and we are making the trip purely for music reasons.
“If the demonstrators have a wish to express their views they should do so to the government, not us.”
