By LOUISE ROTHMAN

Posted on Thu, Feb. 05, 2004

The Eiffel Tower was bathed in red light for the Chinese New Year celebrations in Paris, a beautiful sight to some but to others an ominous symbol of France's capitulation to China. Chinese officials were in Paris by the thousands for the festivities. Meanwhile, French police were quietly arresting people whom they identified by their apparel as Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong is a peaceful, apolitical spiritual practice based on truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. It is freely practiced in more than 50 countries and has received hundreds of honorary proclamations in the United States and abroad. In 1999, Jiang Zemin, head of the Chinese military, outlawed Falun Gong in China and initiated a brutal persecution, including arrests, brainwashing, forced labor, prison terms and torture, even to death.

During the Jan. 24-25 weekend, Sunny Lu and Viviana Galli, both U.S. citizens, were among those arrested in Paris on their way to the Chinese New Year celebrations. Lu was wearing a sweater with the words ''Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance'' and "Falun Dafa" (another name for Falun Gong). Eleven other people, too, were arrested when police identified them as Falun Gong practitioners.

In China, one can be stopped on the street, detained and worse simply for being a Falun Gong practitioner. By their actions, French authorities have imported China's persecution of Falun Gong to Paris. Has the French government traded France's world-renowned principles -- liberty, equality, fraternity -- for economic favors from China?

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/7877909.htm

Posting date: 2/6/2004
Original article date: 2/5/2004
Category: News & Media Reports

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