Seven Short Stories from the World Economic Forum

The following events took place during our exercise demonstrations and candlelight vigils in front of New York's Waldorf Hotel during the World Economic Forum (WEF) from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, 2002.

1. The New York police know our group well. On duty officers said "You are the best group, always so well behaved and peaceful. When I heard that my job was to be assigned to the Falun Gong permit site, I thought I was the luckiest person. Other officers were jealous that I would have an easy job."

3. Two officers were watching practitioners do the 4^th exercise. One of the officers started to follow along, doing it himself. He said, "I wanted to know what it felt like to do it." When the practitioners explained more about the exercises, he said he liked it and wanted us to come to the police station and teach all the officers how to do the exercises. He said, "We really need to learn how to relax more." á

4. There was a mounted police squad on patrol for the large noisy group protest by other groups coming later in the afternoon. The horses seemed nervous and stepped very nervously. The mounted police squad stopped and rested the horses in front of the Falun Gong site while the practitioners were doing the exercises. After a few minutes, the horses looked very relaxed and dropped their heads. All the officers on duty said, "Hey, look at the horses! Even they are calmer and relaxed." A while later the horse patrol passed by again, the officers on the ground said jokingly, "Look they are coming back to relax again."

5. A media photographer and police officer were talking together about Falun Gong. The photographer was telling the police officer, "Those guys are the best group. They are really great!" The police officer said, "You are right, I totally agree." á

6. Top officials came to our permit site to shake our hands and respectfully tell us they admired our discipline, courtesy, good behavior, peaceful nature and especially our truthfulness. A senior police official said he could not believe how professional we were and that when we applied for the permit we did everything legally and above board. We even provided background information on our group which other groups never do. In addition, we always followed our plan and we did everything that we said we would do. When he attended a high level briefing on the groups that were scheduled to show up outside the WEF meeting, someone asked him about Falun Gong. He replied, "They are the only group that has a legitimate reason to be there. You will have no trouble from them at all. They are a real pleasure to work with." Other senior officers in the meeting all shook their heads in agreement. á

7. Swedish practitioners were going to a café for a hot drink. There were four plainclothes police at a table having coffee and taking a break from the cold weather. When they saw the practitioners wearing their Falun Gong scarves, they said, "Hey are you guys Falun Gong, the ones out in front of the Waldorf?" The Swedish practitioners replied yes and asked them how their day was going. The police said, "If everyone was a good as you our job would be a lot easier." Then all the officers stood up and reached across the table to shake their hands as a gesture of thanks.

áThese are a few things that I heard, witnessed or was told by other practitioners.

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