Some came to contest, and some called for the end of persecution. Some were rowdy, and some came peacefully. This was the scene at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, as hundreds flooded the Canadian capital for the visit of Chinese leader, Hu Jintao.

Falun Gong practitioners from different parts of Canada gathered despite the rain. Many performed Falun Gong's exercises in silence as a way to protest the Chinese regime's persecution of the group inside China.

[GRACE WOLLENSAK, Falun Gong Spokesperson]:
"We are against the persecution, the human rights violation. We are coming here to give voice to people in China who have absolutely no voice; Millions of them. They are suffereing in the labor camps, the jails - the tortures."

On the other side, busloads of Chinese demonstrators celebrated Hu Jintao's arrival with Chinese Communist patriotic music.

The Epoch Times reported that a Chinese Embassy official in Ottawa on June 18th had ordered 40 to 50 Chinese students on Chinese state scholarships in Canadian schools present at the meeting to travel to Ottawa—all expenses paid—on what he called a, "political struggle" against Falun Gong, Tibetans and other rights activists.

Witnesses told NTD News that at least twelve buses left Montreal's Chinatown, less than two hours from Ottawa, at dawn. A Chinese individual who asked us not to reveal his name said they were ordered not to speak to Westerners in details about the purpose or planning of their trip to the capital.

But Chinese students' excitement at seeing the Chinese leader eventually proved to be in vain. Hu Jintao's motorcade entered Parliament Hill from a side entrance and Hu entered Canadian government buildings from a back door, leaving his supporters in the rain.

But the rainy weather did not deter the human rights defenders.

[Albert Lin, former Physics Professor at Ryerson University]:
"Well, that is a good challenge, and yet we can see why Hu Jintao would not dare even to come out and say hello to people: to show how people feel about his administration. That is a head of state? What kind of head of state is that?"

And the wait was worth it, as they took advantage of the sun that eventually came out.

But as international forums - like the G8 and G20 that are being held in Canada this week - are currently focused on issues of economic recovery and banking reforms, one has to wonder whether decision-makers on Parliament Hill here today will even consider questions of human rights in China.

Arnaud Camu, NTD, Ottawa.