Toronto, Canada: Falun Gong Practitioners Hold Candlelight Vigil, Urging to Bring Jiang Zemin and His Accomplices to Justice (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net, February 15, 2004) From 4 to 6 pm on February 14, over 100 Falun Gong practitioners from Toronto gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate and held a candlelight vigil and peaceful appeal in spite of the temperature dropping to 20 degrees below zero. They unfurled banners that read, "Bring Jiang Zemin to justice", "Bring Luo Gan, Ling Jing and Zhou Yongkang to justice" to support Falun Gong practitioners in China and called for an end to the persecution.

It was learned that recently, a new round of mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners was conducted in China. Many people were abducted, detained and tortured. Their lives are in great danger. For instance, during the Chinese Lunar New Year, Falun Gong practitioners successfully tapped into a TV network in Xingtai and Shahe, Hebei Province to broadcast videos that expose the persecution of Falun Gong. Afterwards, the Hebei police retaliated by abducting many Dafa practitioners. Up to present, it has been confirmed that at least 884 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of the persecution since 1999.

Falun Gong practitioners who joined the appeal expressed: The reason for us to conduct the candlelight vigil and peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese Consulate is to support our fellow practitioners in China and urge the Chinese government to stop the persecution. Some practitioners said that their purpose for attending this activity was to expose the facts of the persecution and to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. The practitioners' protest aimed at the criminals who persecute Falun Gong, instead of any country or government. In this persecution, Luo Gan (member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Secretary of the Commission of Politics and Law of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Central Committee), Liu Jing (Deputy Minister of Public Security, Vice Director of the 610 Office of the CCP Central Committee) and Zhou Yongkang (Minister of Public Security of the People's Republic of China) are the chief criminals who directly follow Jiang Zemin to suppress Falun Gong. The banners that practitioners unfurled today expressed their quest to bring to justice Jiang Zemin, the chief perpetrator who schemed this persecution and his followers Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang.

Falun Gong practitioners also pointed out that through this message, they wanted to advise Jiang's other followers, including those Consulate officials who spread hate propaganda against Falun Gong, to immediately stop their evildoings, Those who commit the wrongdoings must be punished by law, human's conscience and morality. The recent libel case won by Toronto Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Joel Chipkar against the Deputy Chinese Consul-general is one example of this.

February 14 is Valentine's Day. Toronto Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Li had only one wish, that is, to meet her husband Mr. He Lizhi. Under the situation that Mr. He already obtained approval to immigrate to Canada, he was unlawfully sentenced to 3 years in jail just because he sent Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials to his friends. Ms. Zhang Li and her husband have been apart for more than three years. Through the great rescue effort from all circles in Canada, Mr. He Lizhi, a prisoner of conscience named by Amnesty International, was released before the Chinese Lunar New Year. However, he is still unable to come to Canada to reunite with his wife. Ms. Zhang Li hoped that the Canadian government would issue Mr. He a special visa so that he could leave China as soon as possible. She also wished that countless families like her own who are suffering from the persecution would reunite soon.

Another practitioner Ms. Lin said, "Today is Valentine's Day. I originally planned to spend today with my boyfriend. However, because of the recent escalation of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, I also came here to join the peaceful appeal to support fellow practitioners in China." She continued, "Although we are outside China, our hearts are with practitioners in China and we have the same wish, namely, we want to peacefully and rationally ask the Chinese authorities to stop the persecution of Falun Gong and to urge them to bring those perpetrators of the persecution to justice. At the same time, we hope people would understand why they should not follow Jiang's regime to suppress Falun Gong, for anyone who persecutes Falun Gong will eventually be held accountable."

Toronto media CTV, New Tang Dynasty TV and the Epoch Times came to cover the event.

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