A newspaper has been shut down temporarily by Falun Gong followers who are protesting against a review of a dance show. The followers are members of staff at Epoch Press, which prints the Asian Pacific Post, an award-winning newspaper published in Vancouver. The January 9 edition was to highlight a story about a show by the New York-based Divine Performing Arts on its front page. The show features musicians, dancers and singers performing in vignettes before digitally projected Chinese landscapes. While some of these landscapes include palaces and pastoral vistas, others portray scenes of Falun Gong members resisting police and a follower being beaten. It is scheduled to begin a seven-show run beginning on April 3. The review also included comments from the Chinese Communist Party. Frank Cui, manager of Epoch Press and a personal friend of the Post's publisher Harbinder Singh Sewak, said the article gave voice to the communist regime and made people think Falun Gong believers deserved to be killed or tortured. Mr Cui is a member of the Falun Gong and his staff are also followers. He said that on January 8, when the article was received at the printing press, his staff baulked because they saw the piece as an indirect attack on their faith. One of his pre-press technicians was jailed for three years and persecuted in China because she was a follower, said Mr Cui, adding that he was sorry he had to stop the press. 'Unfortunately, news reporters feel that they must 'balance' stories about Falun Gong or events they are involved in by adding the bad words or opinions from the Chinese Communist Party,' he said. However, he said, he felt there could never be any balance between victim and perpetrator. The Post's managing editor, Mike Roberts, said Epoch Press was opposed to the article for presenting China's view of the Falun Gong. Mr Roberts said there was a frustrating irony in being shut down by Falun Gong followers, because the paper had supported the group at an economic cost. 'We don't carry travel advertisements for China, and many advertisers have said they don't want to be affiliated with a paper that supports the Falun Gong. The fortnightly paper had not been able to secure another publisher, Mr Roberts said, because since the rift became public other printing presses had raised their prices. The paper had sold advertisements for major supplements to mark the Lunar New Year and other events.