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Courage, Determination and Peaceful Resistance -A Report on July 20th Activities in Toronto (Photos) (Clearwisdom.net) Clearwisdom correspondent Lin Jing reports from Toronto:
July 20, 2004 marked the beginning of the Jiang's group's persecution of Falun
Gong five years ago. More than 200 Falun Gong practitioners held a large rally
in front of the Ontario Parliament Building to call for an end to the brutal
persecution of Falun Gong in China and the Jiang group's exporting state
terrorism.
Stop the Jiang Group's Exporting State Terrorism and Hate Propaganda
At the rally, Toronto Falun Gong practitioner Joel Chipkar read a letter to
the Attorney General of Ontario. The letter officially requests Ontario to
comprehensively investigate the Chinese Consulate General's hate propaganda
against Falun Gong practitioners in Ontario, especially the entire wall of hate
propaganda exhibition in its Visa Application Office that is known as the
"Wall of Hatred." Over the past two years, this hate propaganda has
been spreading daily to hundreds of Canada's people and people from different
countries who have been to the Chinese Consulate to apply for visas and to deal
with other matters.
The letter emphasized that the recent malignant incident in South Africa in
which Jiang's follower Zeng Qinghong hired gunmen to shoot Falun Gong
practitioners, fully exposed how the Jiang group has exported its genocidal
suppression of Falun Gong outside of China. If we ignore such a malignant
incident and such state terrorist act, they may not only occur in South Africa,
they may also occur in other countries.
Jiang's group has based its five-year persecution of Falun Gong on lies, or
what Amnesty International has called a "Massive Propaganda Campaign."
The letter pointed out that Chinese Consulate officials cannot enjoy immunity
for spreading their hate propaganda. Their behavior has violated the No.319
Criminal Law of Canada, No. 12 and 13 of Canadian Human Rights Bill, No. 126 of
the Chinese Constitution, No.17 and 20 of Vienna Treaty concerning Consul
Relationship and International Civil and Political Rights Act. The hate
propaganda inside the consulate especially violates Article No. 20 of the
International Civil and Political Rights Act (ICCPR).
Joel Chipkar said, "Our activity has gained support from people of
different social strata, including people in the Chinese community. As of today,
we have collected over ten supporting letters."
Falun Gong Has Changed China's History
Several people from different social strata specially came to attend the
rally to express their support, including the Vice-chairman of the Democratic
Front and Human Rights Activist Ms. Sheng Xue. Since the beginning of the Jiang
group's brutal persecution of Falun Gong five years ago, she has been showing
great sympathy and support to Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Sheng Xue expressed
that Falun Gong practitioners' uncompromising perseverance and peaceful
resistance have changed China's history. She called upon everyone to work
together to end the Jiang group's state terrorism.
Vice-chairman of the Student Union at the University of Toronto also
specially attended today's activity and gave a speech at the press conference.
He expressed that he represented the student union of the University of Toronto
and more than 30 thousand students to express their support for Falun Gong. They
would continue supporting Falun Gong's peaceful resistance, and help stop the
persecution. The University of Toronto Student Union has passed three
resolutions over the past five years to support Falun Gong and condemn the Jiang
group's persecution of Falun Gong, and they sent letters on numerous occasions
to the UN and the Canadian Government, requesting them to stand up to openly
condemn the brutal persecution and work together to help end the persecution.
Another social activist, Ms. Sara who was just passing by the Ontario
Parliament, saw the Falun Gong practitioners' rally and joined them. She said to
reporters that she thought the Canadian Government should take more forceful
measures to support Falun Gong, and help stop the persecution of innocent people
in China. They should not place trade before human rights. She expressed that
she would like to write a supporting letter and expressed her respect for
everyone's efforts.
Immediately Release All Illegally Detained and Persecuted Falun Gong
Practitioners
Zeng Xiaonan and Liang Biao from Toronto read their appeal
letters at the press conference.
Zeng Xiaonan's mother Huang Xin was illegally sentenced to
eight years of imprisonment in Liaoning Province, China and was forced to take
psychotropic drugs that caused her lower limbs to be partially paralyzed, and
partial loss of her memory. Mr. Zeng is preparing to call upon groups that
monitor the abuse of psychiatry and related organizations to show concern over
this matter, and further investigate this case. Huang Xin has been listed as a
typical case of psychological persecution by UN Human Rights Organizations.
Liang Biao's mother, Huang Xiuchao, is nearly 70 years old.
She was sentenced to four years in prison simply for distributing Falun Gong
truth clarification materials. She is still being held in Guangzhou City.
Zeng Xiaonan and Liang Biao told reporters that they are
consulting human rights lawyers and preparing to sue those people who bear
direct responsibility for their mothers' persecution through legal channels.
On July 20 two years ago, Toronto launched an activity of
rescuing our loved ones. Since then, with efforts of the Canadian Government and
people from all walks of life, more than a dozen Falun Gong practitioners'
relatives have been successfully rescued. One of the practitioners who initiated
the activity, Mr. Xiao Jin, also attended the rally. His mother was arrested
once again four months ago for distributing Falun Gong truth clarification
materials. With the appeal of the international community, his mother was
unconditionally released not long ago. Mr. Xiao Jin told reporters, "Tens
of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been illegally detained.
Our rescue efforts are far from drawing a conclusion. We will continue rescuing
them, until the day the persecution stops."
Today's activities attracted many media outlets to come to
conduct interviews, including VOA, the Epoch Times, and the two largest Chinese
TV stations in Toronto. Two TV stations made positive reports that day. The
report mentioned that at least 1009 Falun Gong practitioners are verified to
have died as a result of persecution in the past five years, and persecution and
hatred have also been extended to Canada. Toronto practitioners and ten other
groups have jointly delivered an appeal letter to provincial government to
request the government to take measures to stop the spreading of hatred in
Canada.
One TV station also sent reporters to Chinatown afterwards to
cover the afternoon live torture-exhibit. The report also showed the scenes of
torture reenactment. Another TV station, OMNI, also organized a telephone
hotline investigation that night until the next day. The content of the
investigation was "Do you think the Canadian Government should exert
pressure on the Chinese Government to request them to stop the persecution of
Falun Gong?"
Toronto practitioners' series of truth clarification
activities and the media's report on the activities have drawn the attention of
the media and the public to the Jiang group's persecution of Falun Gong. More
and more people have learned the truth and openly stood up to stop the genocide
taking place in China. Posting date: 7/26/2004 |