The website of the Melbourne International Film Festival is back to normal after hackers posted a Chinese national flag on the site in protest against the planned appearance of Rebiya Kadeer.

The attack came after four films produced by the Chinese mainland pulled out of the event in protest over the documentary about Rebiya Kadeer, who the Chinese government believes was behind the deadly ethnic riot in Urumqi on July 5.

Earlier this month Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang criticized the screening and Kadeer's planned appearance, saying: "Everyone knows the kind of person Rebiya is. We are firmly opposed to any foreign country providing her with a stage for her anti-China separatist activities."

Festival spokeswoman Louise Heseltine said a hacker put a Chinese flag on the website on Saturday and left English messages demanding festival organizers apologize to all Chinese for including Kadeer in the program.

The website host discovered hundreds of other attempts to hack into it, Heseltine said.

The documentary, 10 Conditions of Love, premiered at the festival Sunday. There were no disturbances at the screening, Victoria state police spokeswoman Senior Constable Kendra Jackson said.

Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) officials on Sunday said they had contacted a Chinese citizen in China who claimed responsibility for the hacking.

The hacker sent an e-mail in which he denied any link to the government, saying he was motivated by anger at the screening of the Kadeer documentary, ABC reported.

Festival director Richard Moore said the website had been slowed by the hacking and online ticket sales had suffered.

"We have received over the last two weeks virtually a mini tsunami of e-mails that I can only describe as being vile," Moore told ABC. "It's part of a concerted campaign, and I think people who are behind it will try to ramp it up even more."

Moore said a Chinese diplomat two weeks before the festival openly told him to withdraw the Kadeer film.

The documentary's director, Jeff Daniels, blamed the Chinese government for the protests.

But he also admitted certain content in his film might not be accurate and the viewpoint of the film was not neutral, according to Xinhua-run International Herald Leader.

(China Daily/AP July 28, 2009)