By Dennis Johnson

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

It was a pretty bold move, standing up to the Chinese government. As a practitioner of Falun Gong, Albert Roman of the Palos Verdes Peninsula thought the regime's brutal crackdown on the banned spiritual movement was horrifying.

For nearly three years he was told stories of torture and persecution of Chinese citizens suspected of practicing the ancient mind and body exercise.

Upon hearing that other foreigners would be in Beijing to demonstrate Feb. 14, Roman and two other Los Angeles residents flew over with plans to join them in Tiananmen Square.

"It was to let police know that foreigners are aware," Roman, 25, said. "I wanted to clarify the facts about Falun Gong. I want to overcome the lies they are deceived with.

"I wanted the police I came into contact with to know that the outside world knows that Falun Gong is good, and about the persecution."

About two hours after the demonstration, most of the group was in the custody of the Chinese government. Some were still bearing the bruises they received when they were swarmed and detained.

This is his story.

A Hermosa Beach native, Roman was first introduced to the spiritual practice with its graceful tai-chi-style movements while teaching accounting and English in China in 1999. A student brought him a copy of "Zhuan Falun," the core text of the practice.

His boss told him that for his own safety he should not practice Falun Gong in public, a strange warning to someone raised in the United States.

A sense of commitment

"I definitely had the attitude like, thank you for your concern, but I will continue to practice what I believe is good," he said.

He returned to the United States that year and soon began organizing group exercises at Noble Park in Hermosa Beach. He also passed out literature on the situation in China to passers-by on The Strand.

Since Li Hongzhi started it in 1992, Falun Gong -- also called Falun Dafa -- was attracting millions of Chinese who openly executed its five basic sets of exercises in large groups. Even members of the Communist Party were taking part, and the group soon outnumbered the total membership of the national party.

In 1999 the Chinese government began its official crackdown on the movement after more than 10,000 practitioners gathered for a [peaceful appeal outside the appealing office nearby Zhongnanhai]. Many of those involved later told of police persecution, some saying their homes were broken into and Falun Gong materials confiscated.

Shortly after this, President Jiang Zemin declared the practice illegal.

[...]

"There is a thing going on in China that is large scale deception," Roman said. "They're fabricating stories they say Falun Gong practitioners are killing themselves and that is a blatant lie."

Roman disputes claims that practitioners shun modern medicine in favor of spiritual healing, saying that its exercises and philosophy just make people feel healthier.

"This is absurd because Falun Gong is practiced in 50 countries so why are they only dying and being persecuted in China," he said. "Why have none of those countries created stories defaming Falun Gong?"

Some allege that more than 360 people have been tortured or beaten to death by the state.

Roman said he thought a foreigner protesting in China might send a message to the Communist government that the world is watching.

Taking a direct flight out of Los Angeles on Feb. 10, he, Gina Sanchez of Pasadena and Mark Gardner of Brea flew to Beijing. Once there they found a hotel near Tiananmen Square, the site of the infamous 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, and prepared for the showing.

After taking a taxi to the square they were surrounded and questioned by police officers, both uniformed and plainclothes.

The officers patted them down, Roman said, looking for any sort of books or pamphlets.

"They were looking for Westerners who practice Falun Gong," he said.

Luckily for Roman, the officers didn't find a small banner he made a few hours earlier at the hotel. On it he had written in Chinese "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance" the main principals of the movement.

Originally the plan was to form a solid line and start chanting "Falun Dafa is good," but the heavy police presence made only individual protests possible.

Short-lived protest

Gardner started chanting and was immediately covered with police. At this point, Roman said he had the chance to pull out his banner, but had it out only for a few seconds before he was pounced on by an officer.

"He proceeded to beat me. He had me in a choke hold, while others were hitting my kidneys and neck," he said. "I thought that I might faint." He was taken to a waiting van and whisked off to a police station.

"When the van stopped, the driver participated," he said. "He grabbed me by the hair and I could hear it tearing."

They detained Roman for about an hour and then took him to a detention center near the main airport where he was interrogated by police officers. They quizzed him on where he was from and why was involved with Falun Gong.

In Chinese custody

Some told him he wasn't yet insane from Falun Gong, but he would be soon. Others told him he had disrupted the social order by going to the square.

"I was watching people get hit just for saying Falun Dafa is good," he said. "It just doesn't make sense."

Throughout it all, he asked some of the officers if they thought this was a fair way to treat people like this, for only believing in what is a good and benign practice.

A few understood, he said.

He was eventually deported and flown back to the United States. He was debriefed in Washington, D.C., by the State Department and later flew back to California.

Roman said he realizes that many people probably don't understand his conviction to the practice and to those in China who are being persecuted. Even his parents have questioned his involvement.

He stressed that he's not involved in a cult, that he hasn't turned over any money or been asked to isolate himself from the rest of society. He said he still loves his parents and surfs, and feels healthier and happier than ever.

Now, even with the mark on his permanent record and the possibility that he would be denied a visa if he tried to go back, Roman said he would return to China and risk arrest again.

"Until the persecution ends, I really want to clarify the truth for those guys," he said. "If being a Westerner helps, then I'd go again."

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/bln/nmfalun4.html

Posting date: 3/6/2002
Original article date: 3/6/2002
Category: News & Media Reports

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