Sydney - Chinese directors have withdrawn their work from Australia's biggest film festival to protest the inclusion of a documentary about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.

China has accused Kadeer of fomenting unrest among the Uighur community in the province of Xinjiang, where ethnic violence claimed at least 197 lives earlier this month.

Festival organizer Richard Moore said that last week he had received a telephone call from the Chinese cultural attaché in Melbourne warning him of the serious consequences of upsetting Beijing.

Moore, who decided to include the Australian-made documentary anyway, said the withdrawals were very disappointing.

"I am obviously upset because we have supported the work of these filmmakers in the past," he said.

It is the second censorship controversy to hit the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Earlier this week Moore pledged not to bow to pressure from British film director Ken Loach to exclude an animated feature from Israeli director Tatia Rosenthal.

Allowing Rosenthal admission, Loach said, would condone the "illegal occupation of Palestinian land."

Moore said "we will not participate in a boycott against the state of Israel just as we would not contemplate boycotting films from China or other nations involved in difficult long-standing historical disputes."(dpa)