Yanbian City Government in Jilin Province Uses Falun Gong as Scapegoat to Divert Attention from Company Fraud and Unemployed Workers

(Clearwisdom.net)

On the afternoon of May 14 2002, more than 40 disgruntled laid-off workers who were formerly employed by the Yanxi Street Brick Material Factory went to appeal their case. However, shortly after they boarded the train to the capital city, they were forcibly brought back by more than 100 policemen from the Anti-violence Team, emergency team and the police department. They were forced to leave their belongings behind on the train, and the train was delayed for half an hour due to this incident. On the train, some of the workers were even severely beaten. Three had such serious injuries that they had to be rushed to the hospital, and the reporters who were interviewing them had to cut short their reports.

Upon investigation, this group of workers had no unemployment benefits available to them after they lost their jobs. Their insurance funds had been diverted by others; also their allowances were very small, and every month they were paid only 60 Yuan RMB, which was less than half of the amount initially agreed upon. It was absolutely impossible to survive on such a small allowance. Under these circumstances, they decided to appeal to the government. Under the Chinese Constitution, appealing is a legal right for every Chinese citizen, yet a large number of workers who were unfairly treated have nowhere to lodge their appeals, though they have a just cause.

The government and the police even dared to unjustly claim that Falun Gong practitioners were responsible for the whole situation. This story was created to divert the attention of train staff and passengers away from the real issues-- namely, the growing corruption in the government and the brutal treatment of the people by the authorities.

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