VOA Asia Pacific: Falun Gong Interrupts TV Programming in China

By Leta Hong Fincher (Beijing)

27 Jun 2002 14:09 UTC

In China, members of the banned Falun Gong meditation [group] have again [tapped into] TV satellites to interrupt programming. The first incident happened Sunday night. Instead of regular state television programming, Chinese viewers in parts of Shandong Province saw pro-Falun Gong messages flashing on their screens.

Then on Tuesday, residents of Yantai city, in Shandong, tuned in to find the message "Falun Gong is good" on their television sets for several seconds.

Frank Lu in Hong Kong is the director the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. He said mainland authorities have launched a massive investigation into what happened.

Mr. Lu said police in many provinces have been ordered to hunt down those who [tapped into] the television programs. He added the operation shows a good deal of sophistication since the Falun Gong would have needed an antenna more than three meters tall to interrupt the regular satellite television feed.

The Falun Gong said its [practitioners] have resorted to taking over the airwaves briefly because they have no other means to express or share their beliefs in China. Sophie Xiao is a spokeswoman for the group in Hong Kong.

"These people didn't do anything wrong. They just believe in truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, and they practice spiritual beliefs," Ms. Xiao said. "They did nothing wrong to the government or the people. How come China can't tolerate this?"

She said Falun Gong activists in China are likely to stage similar protests as long as the government maintains its ban on the group.

The Falun Gong has [tapped into] television programs in at least four other Chinese cities this year. The other protests occurred in Harbin, Changchun and Anshan in the northeast and Chongqing in the southwest.

[...]

In the three years the group has been banned, China has arrested thousands of members for re-education. Human rights groups charge scores of those detained have died in custody or mistreated.

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