UK: A Famous Drummer Participates In A Protest Opposite The Chinese Consulate
(Clearharmony.net) It was drizzling in Manchester when David Bowie arrived on the 17th of
November. The arrival of Bowie and his band signaled the start of his UK tour,
with the first performance on the evening of the 17th. Disregarding any fatigue
from travel, the band's drummer, Sterling Campbell, rushed to the Chinese
Consulate in Manchester before joining the rest of the band for the concert. As
well as being David Bowie's drummer for the past five years, Sterling Campbell
is a Falun Gong practitioner, who believes in Truthfulness, Compassion and
Forbearance. Whenever Sterling has visited other countries, he has always tried
to participate in peaceful appeals in front of Chinese embassies on behalf of
Falun Gong practitioners that have been persecuted to death in China. About a year ago, Sterling went to China with other western practitioners to
appeal for Falun Gong. All of them had a single wish: To urge the Chinese
government to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and
to release all imprisoned practitioners. During this time in China, Sterling was
beaten by policemen, and also saw a young Chinese girl being dragged on the
ground and thrown into a police car after she was pushed over and beaten by
policemen. Since Sterling came back from China, his music tour has had an additional
activity. With his own experience, he wants to tell all his audience and the
friends in the places he visits around the world about the inhuman persecution
of Falun Gong in China, and urge people to pay more attention to it and give
more support to Falun Gong. Terence is a seventy-one-year-old English Dafa practitioner who is lives in
Manchester. He was previously sick for several years and was confined to bed
until he began practising Falun Gong. Now he is a very healthy and active
elderly man who often spreads the beauty of Falun Dafa and expose the Jiang
regimes persecution to people. At the moment, he goes to the Chinese consulate
in Manchester every weekday morning with display boards to clarify the facts
about the persecution of Falun Gong to passersby and people who go to the
Chinese consulate. At the invitation of a local evening news photographer, Sterling, Terence and
another female western practitioner demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises in
front of the Chinese consulate. At that time, a staff member of the consulate
came out to try and stop the practitioners from practicing the exercises. He
claimed that the piece of public pavement where the practitioners were
demonstrating the exercises was private property that belonged to the consulate.
He also said that it was not permitted to trespass and practice the exercises on
that spot, and if practitioners continued to practice he would call the police.
The reporters were surprised to hear this and asked him what was wrong with the
Falun Gong practitioners who were doing nothing wrong. Practitioners, in
particular the drummer Sterling, then clarified the facts to the consulate staff
member. After a television reporter arrived there, the member of staff went back
into the consulate. After a peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese consulate and a press
conference, Sterling went to play in the Bowie concert that evening. Only two
organizations were invited to the event, Friends of Falun Gong and Amnesty
International. They set up exhibition booths in the hall where the concert was
held. Before the concert, many people passed by the booths and took the
opportunity to look at the Falun Gong photos and posters. Some of the audience
signed their names to a petition book to rescue practitioners and some took
flyers. Upon learning about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and Sterling
Campbells experience in Beijing, people were shocked. Many said that the
persecution would not last long, and wished practitioners good luck. Many newspapers, including the Manchester Evening News, which has the largest
circulation in northwest England, rushed to interview Sterling and other Falun
Gong practitioners in front of the Chinese embassy. The Manchester Evening News
carried the report on the newspapers third page the following day. Published: Tuesday, 25. November 2003
Chinese version available at
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200311/26165.html
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