The Australian Open has fired protesters for supporting China’s Peng Shuai

The Australian Open tennis tournament has been marred by protests for the second time this year after Tennis Australia released two spectators for wearing T-shirts to support Chinese player Peng Shuai.

Video footage of security officials and police depicting the two protesters, who had a T-shirt with T-shirts emblazoned on the face of a Chinese actor and the caption: “Where is Peng Shuai?”, Was posted online over the weekend. Peng was forced last year after he accused a Chinese prime minister of rape.

Tennis Australia said spectators were not allowed to show political or commercial during the game.

It is the second time this month that the tennis association has been forced to defend its actions after granting permission to uninfected Serbian player Novak Djokovic to play in the tournament. The Australian government criticized the election and withheld his visa.

Martina Navratilova, a former professional women’s tennis player and commentator, said the idea of ​​removing the protesters was “sad”, on Twitter describing the Women’s Tennis Association’s support for Peng.

In November, the WTA said it had not been able to locate Peng Shuai within weeks of its publication rape cases against Deputy Prime Minister of China Zhang Gaoli on his Weibo account. In December, Peng told Shanghai Lianhe Zaobao newspaper that he was not beaten, in his first words following what he wrote on social media.

The issue began ahead of the Winter Olympics in China, which begin next month and should be ignored by US embassies because of Beijing’s history of human rights. Peng’s story prompted the WTA to suspend its celebrations in the lucrative Chinese market, citing a lack of assurance that the player was “free, safe and free”.

Drew Pavlou, a freedom fighter representing the Australian senate this year, posted a video of the protesters being released from the Australian Open on Twitter and asking if T-shirts in support of Peng were violating Australian Tennis rules.

“How about politics just talking about Peng Shuai’s rights?” he asked, citing the actions of the tennis team as a “dangerous attack on free speech”.

Pavlou has launched an online fundraising campaign to raise $ 10,000 to print 1,000 T-shirts to help Chinese tennis players to present to the finalists for women at the Australian Open.

Luzhou Laojiao, a Chinese beverage company, is one of the main sponsors of the Australian Open, signing a five-year contract in 2018.

Tennis Australia has been forced to defend its idea of ​​awarding the prize to Djokovic, the world’s No. 1 player, a medical pardon who entered the country to play in the Australian Open.

The vaccinated player, who has won the tournament six times, was fired by the government after the trial began.