Cyber attack hits Aussie film festival site

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-01 15:57

MELBOURNE: A cyber attack on Saturday shut down online bookings for a leading Australian film festival, days before a visit by Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the separatist World Uygur Congress, organizers said.

The attack on the Melbourne International Film Festival's site is the second in just a few days. It comes after Beijing on Friday summoned Australia's ambassador to protest at the planned visit to the festival by Rebiya Kadeer.

Festival spokeswoman Asha Holmes said a site in Chinese had been discovered carrying instructions on how to attack the festival's site. (www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au)

"It is definitely China," she said, but added the attack did not appear to be led by the Chinese government but by a group of Chinese citizens.

The festival is to show "The 10 Conditions of Love" -- a documentary about Kadeer.

The Chinese government has claimed that Kadeer organized the deadly riots in Urumqi last month.

Holmes said that despite the cyber attack, in which fake accounts were used to make massive fake online bookings and show films as sold out when they were not, Kadeer's visa had been granted and her visit would go ahead as planned from Wednesday.

However, it had been a major headache for the festival, Holmes said, as 60 percent of its bookings were normally generated online.

Three Chinese films have been withdrawn from the festival in boycott.