The main charge against anti-China protester Drew Pavlou, has been dropped by police, The Sydney Morning Herald has reported.
The 23-year-old was subjected to crowd anger during a protest against the Chinese president in Eastwood last year. The court heard Pavlou attended another protest a week later in the same location and a scuffle broke out.
Police allege that Pavlou was holding a sign translated, in Mandarin, to “Xi Jinping f— your mother.”
At the time, Pavlou was charged with offensive behaviour in public and with refusal to comply with a police direction to move on.
In court on Monday, Pavlou’s lawyer claimed the sign had been wrongly interpreted. Tony Morris KC put forward to an official translator that Pavlou’s sign was referring to a general “curse” against Xi but not a literal message of “fornication.”
The translator said the curse was a popular term of criticism by young people against The Chinese Communist Party.
Police prosecutor John Marsh withdrew the charge of offensive behaviour at the end of the interpreter’s evidence.
The hearing into Pavlou’s alleged refusal to move on will continue this week.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
