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Miami Herald: Persecution Extended to France? 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 |