Wolfsburg News: "Fallersleben" Train Station Under Tight Security--Falun Gong Holds SOS-March and Sit-in Demonstrations

(Original text in German)

Wolfsburg News, Newsclick, April 12, 2002

(Fallersleben is the name of a famous German author)

By Daniel Puskepeleitis and Alexandra Ritter

Will Jiang Zemin actually arrive by train in Wolfsburg or will he descend from a helicopter, directly landing at the Volkswagen Factory?

[...]

Jiang is not without criticism. During his scant one-week stay in Germany, several protest demonstrations were held, the last one in Dresden on Thursday, where followers of the Falun Gong movement, which is outlawed in China, held a protest demonstration. Even in Wolfsburg, 50-70 Falun Gong members have announced their arrival and participation [in a protest]. Beginning at 9:15 A.M., they will start a so-called SOS-March, beginning at city hall and progressing to Nordkopf. A sit-in demonstration will take place and remain there until noon. Another sit-in demonstration group will be placed at the Stadtbruecke (city bridge) and behind the public works buildings. These groups will be relatively smaller than the one seen in Berlin and Dresden, because the group will split up and be present for Jiang's arrival in Goslar.

"We aim to point out the human rights situation in China and hope for moral support from the citizens of Wolfsburg," said Falun Gong member Vitali Uhl. In the evening there will be a candlelight vigil at the train station. "We would prefer the Berlin Bridge or a stretch along the river leading to Wolsfburg," said Uhl. "But the authorities did not issue us a permit."

[...]

Security measures by all estimates were considered to be unusually high, even for a state visit.

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