(Clearwisdom.net, February 1, 2004) On January the 28th, some delegates attending the international conference on Genocide in the New Era', together with practitioners from Europe, North America and Asia held a press conference in the Swedish Parliament, regarding the French Government's unreasonable arrest of Falun Gong practitioners who had done nothing wrong during the Chinese New Year Parade and Hu Jintao's visit to France.
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| Press conference host introduces the incident in Paris | Marco Hsu relates that because he wore a yellow scarf, he was unreasonably arrested by the French police when he was watching the Chinese New Year Parade in Paris | On behalves of a number of attorneys around the world who support human rights, American human rights attorney Dr. Terri Marsh reads an open letter to the French government |
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| Dafa practitioners who attend the press conference practice the Falun Gong exercises | Practitioners practice the exercise during the press conference | Truth-clarifying display boards and photos of those who died as a result of persecution |
Marco Hsu, a Danish practitioner, introduced his experience of being arrested by five French policemen when he was watching the Chinese New Year Parade in Paris; he was arrested simply because he was wearing a yellow scarf. He said, "On January 24, when I was watching the Chinese New Year Parade in Paris, two plain-cloth police officers ordered me to put off my yellow scarf, because they said that yellow was not legal that day. I said to the officers, 'I am a Danish citizen. Both France and Denmark are democratic countries. Why is it so in France?' The officers impatiently said, 'You will be responsible for your behavior.' Later, I was taken away by five police officers. On the police van and in the police station, I met more than 10 Falun Gong practitioners who came from Germany and Taiwan. There were also French people who appealed for Tibet. Hsu expressed that it was very improper for France to do so, especially France is a democratic country. He said that he felt ashamed for this and he further understood how harsh the situation that Falun Gong practitioners in China are facing is.
A famous U.S human rights attorney, Ms. Terri Marsh, facilitated a number of human rights lawyers around the world to write and send an open letter to the French Government, expressing their deep regret for what the French Government had done. They also emphasized that this incident has breached the basic requirements of human rights. They urged the French Government to hold an in-depth investigation into this unfortunate issue.
A Canadian human rights lawyer said that it was sad to hear this news. In France, such a democratic country, everyone should be able to express his views. Falun Gong practitioners were arrested without doing anything. This violated the fundamental principles of democratic countries. Furthermore, France was the cradle of democracy, human rights and freedom. When Chinese leader visited France, it was a good opportunity to let him learn about real democracy and freedom. The Chinese leader did not want to see protest, but the western host could tell them that we could not forbid protests, because that is part of the people's rights.
It was reported that at the same time of the press conference, four Falun Gong practitioners filed a lawsuit to the Paris Procuratorate against visiting Chinese Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng, charging him with "crimes of torture".
Category: News & Events
