(Clearwisdom.net) During Chinese president Hu's visit to France, police in Paris unreasonably arrested dozens of Falun Gong practitioners, which attracted the attention around the world. When asked, representatives from the French government and Foreign Affairs Department and several government officials responded that out of safety concerns, it is standard procedure for French police to detain [certain] people for several hours during visits of foreign heads of state. They asked why Falun Gong should be so different and accused the practitioners of overreacting.

If we look at the bigger picture, though, and analyze the situation we can see that the practitioners are not at all hypersensitive.

For the past four plus years, foreign government officials, French officials being no exception, and the citizens have become familiar with the rationality and peacefulness Falun Gong practitioners have displayed during their protest of Jiang group's persecution. On February 2, 2004, Mr. Patrick Devedjian, Minister Delegate for Local Freedoms said during a meeting with a Falun Gong practitioner, "The government and people of France all know Falun Gong practitioners are peaceful." [Paraphrase]

Prior to President Hu's visit, a few individuals in the French government had fed the French police with the Jiang group's malicious lies, saying, "Falun Gong will make trouble," to encourage the police to take hard-line measures against the practitioners.

Many arrested Falun Gong practitioners were only standing or walking in the street without making any act of protest. The police recognized Falun Gong practitioners by their yellow clothes, their "Falun Gong" scarves or from their Falun Gong flags and flyers.

The police first asked a person if he or she is a Falun Gong practitioner and if the answer was no, they would release the person. If the person was a Falun Gong practitioner, they would take him or her to the police department, make a record, and hold the practitioner for four or five hours.

The police could not explain their actions and said they received orders from "above."

When Falun Gong practitioners asked French government officials about the arrest, they were often confronted with the question, "Why didn't I see a report in the media? It must not be very serious," which is what makes the situation strange. Many French media outlets heard about the practitioners' experience, but all of them unanimously decided not to report the incident. In comparison, they reported on supporters of Tibet and other human rights organizations.

Before the arrest, the French media had widely reported the Paris City Council rejecting Falun Gong's participation in the New Year's Parade. The Paris police's unreasonable arrest of Falun Gong practitioners has more news value, yet the media that have the very sense of news simultaneously "forgot" it. It's no wonder people suspect the media are under some kind of "control from the top."

All of this shows the police's action against Falun Gong is not an ordinary way to carry out their duties, but a premeditated violation of Falun Gong practitioners' human rights. Who is the one behind the scenes?

A few individuals in the French government abandoned traditional French principles, which are democracy and freedom, in exchange for economic interests offered by Jiang's group. Their action is a danger signal to France and the world.

Let us imagine, if Jiang Zemin's group could use the contract to buy 21 planes valued at over one billion U.S. dollars from Airbus, to motivate the French government to illegally detain Falun Gong practitioners for several hours. If Jiang's group offers France two billion, would the French government take even harsher measures against Falun Gong? Then what about 10 billion?

Betraying one's principles is opening to gate to the abyss of corruption. Principles cannot be compromised. Every compromise is assisting the evil forces and falling into the Jiang group's trap. If the French government doesn't awaken in time, will it be able to pull itself out of the abyss?

In fact, the Chinese ruling Party cannot live without business deals with the Western world. Even if all Western countries refuse to yield on human rights issues, Beijing would still have to do business with them. On the other hand, if one democratic country takes a step backwards, Jiang group's appetite to concede commercial interests for silence on its human rights record would be greatly stimulated.

If all countries in the world stepped forward and opposed the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Jiang would not be able to maintain the persecution. In the past few years, Falun Gong has grown rapidly in foreign countries and Jiang's attempt to eradicate overseas Falun Gong has long since failed.

However, the French government's betrayal of human rights principles is like a shot of tonic for Jiang's heart. Since France caved in to pressure, Jiang will devote more effort to make other democratic countries do the same, and he will be stimulated to continue the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China.

One thing of note: The Chinese media did not air one report on the French police's cooperation with Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong, since they know this was not a glorious thing to do. However, if the French government makes further compromises and clamps down harder on Falun Gong, then Jiang's group will order the Chinese media to feed even more lies to the Chinese people. Therefore, France has quite likely helped to strengthen Jiang's persecution. How many more Falun Gong practitioners will be tortured to death? Will the individuals in the French government be able to deny their share in the blood shed by the practitioners in China?

It is therefore necessary for Falun Gong practitioners to explain the story behind the arrest, which is one of Jiang's schemes to persecute Falun Gong, to the French government and people from all walks of life.

Posting date: 2/11/2004
Original article date: 2/10/2004
Category: Open Forum
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/4/66608.html