(Clearwisdom.net)

Voice of America (VOA) reported on April 25, 2002 that a Chinese Falun Gong practitioner was arrested on Thursday while protesting on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Thursday marked the third anniversary of Falun Gong's first protest, the Zhongnanhai appeal on April 25, 1999. Falun Gong practitioners all over the world held various protests and appeals on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, a middle-aged woman ran through Tiananmen Square holding a yellow banner, but was quickly taken away. Witnesses said police took her to a waiting vehicle, and then immediately chased away the onlookers. The entire incident lasted less than fifteen seconds.

Since Thursday was the third anniversary of the Falun Gong Zhongnanhai appeal, Beijing had obviously taken stronger security precautions. The China Human Rights Information Center in Hong Kong reports they have learned from Beijing Falun Gong practitioners that at least two thousand practitioners have been arrested since March 5, 2002, the date when Changchun City Falun Gong practitioners broadcasted a Falun Dafa program through cable TV. Since that incident, more than one hundred fifty Changchun Falun Dafa practitioners have been sentenced to forced labor camps.

Close to two hundred Hong Kong practitioners protesting the persecution of Falun Dafa while holding meditation

Meanwhile, Falun Dafa practitioners all over the world are holding peaceful demonstrations and appeals. In Hong Kong, where Falun Gong is legal under the principle of "one country, two systems," Falun Dafa spokeswoman Mrs. Hui Yee Han said that although the police did not permit Falun Dafa practitioners to appeal in their original location, the appeal was still conducted. A group of more than ten practitioners wanted to publicly read their appeal letter and meditate in front of the China Liaison Office for one hour. Police would not allow it for even fifteen minutes but directed them to move to the officially designated protest area, which was not near the entrance. Around a hundred other Falun Dafa practitioners went to appeal in a local Hong Kong park and formally delivered a letter to their legislative representative, requesting that the Chinese government stop persecuting Falun Gong.

U.S. Falun Dafa spokesman Zhang Erping introduced their plan of appealing in the U.S., saying there would be a press conference in front of the New York City government office buildings. Zhang Erping said, "We are calling on the Chinese Government to stop persecuting Falun Dafa on this third anniversary of the Zhongnanhai appeal because, in the past three years, we have seen their methods of persecution and torture of Falun Dafa practitioners become increasingly severe. Thousands upon thousands of people have been forced into homeless destitution, roaming around the country to avoid capture. We have heard that many people have been dismissed from work simply because they practice Falun Dafa, causing them to lose their social welfare benefits. Many have been sent to forced labor camps, leaving their children without adult care, destined to become destitute and homeless."

Falun Dafa practitioners also held a nightlong appeal in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York. Among them are non-Chinese practitioners such as Scott Chinn.

On February 14, 2002, during the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, around seventy Falun Dafa practitioners from eighteen countries held a pre-planned protest on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Scott and his wife, together with more than thirty other non-Chinese Falun Dafa practitioners, successfully passed by the police and went into the center of Tiananmen Square, where they shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" The police quickly arrested them, however. Scott said that he and his wife were held for twenty-four hours in a Beijing detention center, and they were treated severely before the Chinese government finally sent them by plane to be repatriated in the U.S.

Posting date: 4/28/2002
Original article date: 4/28/2002
Category: News & Media Reports
Translated on 4/27/2002
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2002/4/26/29121.html

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