A notorious Australian protestor was kicked out of the Wimbledon men’s final after shouting ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’ in the middle of a point, causing the match to be disrupted.
Drew Pavlou, 22, is a vocal critic of China and the Communist nation’s handling of Tibet, Hong Kong and Uighur Muslims – with the University of Queensland student regularly attending major sporting events around the world to protest.
Pavlou was bundled out of the arena on Sunday moments after shouting ‘Where is Peng Shuai’.
Boos echoed across the arena while Nick Kyrgios appeared frustrated with the interruption, placing his hands on his hips and huffed as he prepared for his opponent to serve in the third set.
Drew Pavlou is kicked out of the Wimbledon final on Sunday after shouting ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’
The Australian activist claims he was treated like a ‘terrorist’ by security
Pavlou regularly attends major sporting events to criticise China’s treament of Hong Kong, Tibet and the Uighur Muslims
Pavlou took to Twitter to share a statement about the stunt and his treatment by Wimbledon security after being kicked out of the stadium.
The 22-year-old said he was pushed head first down the aisle, knocking into other people from the crowd because of the aggressive guards.
I held up a sign at the Wimbledon Final saying “Where Is Peng Shuai.” I shouted “Where Is Peng Shuai, Chinese tennis star persecuted by the Chinese government, why won’t Wimbledon say something?” Security pushed me over one of the rows and we all tripped over it,’ he said.
‘Then one of the security guards who tripped, a guy in a blue Hawaiian shirt, he wanted to get back at me and hurt me, he pushed me with full force down the steps and I fell head first. He then grabbed me and smashed me up against the wall and twisted my arms behind my back as he smashed me against the wall he said “the police are coming to arrest you now.”
‘Team of security treated me like a terrorist, kept my arms twisted really painfully behind my back as they expelled me from the stadium, all while saying they were sympathetic to my cause.’
He was recently arrested for holding an anti-Communist Party rally in Eastwood in Sydney’s west and last year founded the Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance national political party.
Pavlou interrupted the final on Sunday with Nick Kyrgios visibly frustrated at the delay
Kyrgios was not impressed with Pavlou’s timing
Peng posted a 1,600-word note on Chinese social media platform Weibo accusing former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her to have sex with him in November last year, before suddenly vanishing from view.
She has since re-emerged in a series of seemingly contrived and orchestrated events claiming she had been misinterpreted – despite outcry from the international sporting and political community that she was being censored.
Peng made the initial post to the Chinese social media platform detailing the alleged rape by Mr Gaoli, which came seven years after the pair first had an affair.
She said she was taken to a room in the former vice premier’s house and told to have sex with the official with a guard standing watch outside.
The tennis star admitted to being a ‘bad bad girl’ and a ‘hypocrite’ but said she had to share her story.
‘I will tell the truth about you. With your intelligence, I’m certain you will deny it or you can blame it on me, or disregard it. You always said you hoped your mother in heaven could bless and protect you,’ she posted to Weibo in November.
‘I am a bad woman who doesn’t deserve to be a mother, but you are a father with both a son and a daughter. I have asked you this before: if it was your adopted daughter, would you have forced her to do this?
‘Do you still have the courage to face your mother after everything you’ve done in your lifetime? We sure all like to pose as people with high morals…’
Tennis fans support Peng at the Australian Open by wearing shirts asking where the tennis star is after she disappeared following allegations against a former minister
Peng was missing from the public eye for several weeks before resurfacing and addressing the rumours in an amateur video recorded by a reporter.
‘First and foremost, I must emphasize. I have never said or written about anyone sexually assaulting me,’ she said.
‘That’s a very important point. On the Weibo post, that’s my personal issue.’
French newspaper L’Equipe released an interview they conducted with Peng earlier this year, with the Chinese tennis star saying she was unable to make contact because a ‘computer was changed’.
‘First of all, I would like to thank all the ATP and WTA players, all the athletes and all the personalities in large numbers who cared about me,’ Peng said.
‘But I didn’t think there would be such concern and I would like to know: why such concern? I never disappeared, everyone could see me’.
Peng appears at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing – another appearance some believe is contrived by the Chinese government to cover up her disappearance
She claimed the entire situation was a ‘misunderstanding’ and said she’d never disappeared.
‘I never said anyone sexually assaulted me. It’s just that a lot of people, like my friends, including from the IOC, messaged me, and it was quite impossible to reply to so many messages,’ the 36-year-old said.
‘But with my close friends, I always remained in close contact. I also discussed this with the WTA. But, at the end of the year, their website’s communication computer was changed and many players had difficulty logging in at that time.’
Despite several months passing, Shuai is still yet to return to tennis.
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