Karen Blakeman

Practitioners of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement banned in Beijing two years ago, demonstrated in Honolulu during the weekend, holding signs and distributing literature that chronicled the imprisonment, torture and death of Falun Gong followers in China.

"We are calling on the world to stop the brutal persecution," said Wu Guorui, a Chinese citizen and practitioner of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

The Hawai'i demonstration and other larger gatherings across the Mainland foreshadow a national demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Wu said.

Started nine years ago in China and incorporating ancient Chinese philosophies, Falun Gong combines slow, meditative movements with a belief system based on the pursuit of truth, compassion and tolerance.

Wu, who demonstrated and meditated Friday with a handful of other practitioners outside the State Capitol, said hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters are walking and biking from distant cities to Washington, trying to raise awareness of the plight of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

He had little to say about the announcement last week that China had been chosen to stage the 2008 Olympics. "I only hope that China can improve its human rights record," he said.

Wu said the young Falun Gong spiritual movement, although hailed by government officials at its inception as a method of improving the health of the population, quickly fell out of favor with the [party name omitted] party. Two years ago, in July 1999, Chinese President Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong and ordered the arrest and punishment of its practitioners and supporters.

Wu said he believed [party's name omitted] felt threatened by Falun Gong, which by that point had more than 100 million practitioners. Falun Gong followers, he said, outnumbered [party's name omitted] members.

After the ban, Chinese authorities lodged a campaign of violent suppression that has been condemned by the international community, including the U.S. Department of State.

Falun Gong claims more than 50,000 people have been arrested, 254 have been tortured to death, 150 sentenced to prison, 20,000 sent to labor camps and 600 sent to mental institutions. Falun Gong sympathizers, Western news agencies, and human rights organizations have documented the torture and deaths of dozens of Falun Gong practitioners.

Chinese government officials denied responsibilities for the deaths, [...]

Among information distributed by Wu and the other demonstrators was a tape documenting injuries to men and women who appeared to have been tortured many of them dying from their injuries.

[...] http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Jul/16/ln/ln06a.html

Posting date: 7/17/2001
Original article date: 7/16/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

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