The Epoch Times: April 25th Marks 'Bittersweet' Gathering

ByNathea Lee

Falun Gong practitioners around the world are expected to stage a variety of events to commemorate the April 25, 1999 gathering of 10,000 practitioners outside China's State Office of Appeals, which is located near Zhongnanhai, the seat of China's central government in Beijing.

The Falun Dafa Information Center says panel discussions, photo exhibits, marches, candlelight vigils, and sit-ins outside Chinese embassies are planned to call for an end to "a five-year campaign of suppression."

Practitioners from across Beijing and elsewhere had come together the morning of April 25 to protest a ban against publishing their books and the detention of adherents in Tianjin. They also called upon the police to stop disrupting their exercise sites. The Chinese premier at that time, Zhu Rongji, met with [Falun Gong practitioners' representatives] (1) and the Tianjin practitioners were promptly released.

"It's a bittersweet occasion," said Erping Zhang, a Falun Gong spokesman. "April 25th was a peaceful response to police brutality and months of illegal activity by security personnel. What's tragic is the regime's head, Jiang Zemin, used the occasion and launched a campaign to 'eradicate' Falun Gong."

Three months after the unprecedented demonstration, then-President Jiang outlawed the spiritual practice and launched a crackdown that the Information Center says has led to nearly 1,000 deaths to date.

(1) The word "leaders" was replaced with "representatives to respect the fact that the April25 appeal was a voluntary rather than an "organized" event. Practitioners who met with Premier Zhu Rongji were also voluntary representatives, not "leaders."

Source: http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-4-26/21098.html

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