(Clearwisdom.net) At noon on December 16, Sydney practitioners held a press conference in front of the Thai Consulate regarding the recent unlawful arrests of practitioners. John Deller, chairperson of New South Wales Falun Dafa Association, delivered an open letter to the Thai Consul General. The open letter expressed the local practitioners' strong concern over the arrests of eight practitioners who were conducting a peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand. They called on the Thai government not to kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and act as its accomplice. They demanded the immediate release of all detained practitioners and restoration of the rights of peaceful protest in front of the Chinese Embassy.

Mr. Boonyamanop, Thai Consul General, met with John and the other practitioner-representative. He accepted the open letter and listened to the practitioners' concerns. The consul general said that Thai is an independent state and Thai practitioners have the rights to peacefully express their will at Chinese Embassy.

Two practitioners deliver an open letter to Thai consul general

Kay Rubacek reads the open letter at a rally

Practitioner Kay Rubacek read the open letter at the rally. The letter recounted the Thai incident: On December 10, instigated by the Chinese Embassy, Thai police violently interfered with the practitioners' protest in front of the Embassy. On December 14, the Thai police at Pattaya beat three practitioners who handed out truth clarification materials. On December 15, eight practitioners, including three children (age 3, 6, 14 respectively) were arrested by Thai police in front of the Chinese embassy.

The open letter stated: During the six-year peaceful resistance of practitioners to the CCP's brutal persecution, Falun Gong has received more and more support, and spread to more than 70 countries. In the early years of the persecution, the Thai government welcomed and supported Falun Gong. However, tempted by commercial interests and intimidated by the communist power, it started to breach practitioners' basic rights. For example, it sabotaged a Falun Dafa experience sharing conference in 2000 and arrested a Swedish practitioner who was to conduct a peaceful appeal during the Chinese Prime Minister's visit.

The open letter stated that China is undergoing a dramatic change. Since publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, more and more people have realized the evil nature of the CCP, and more than six million Chinese have formally quit the party. ,The totalitarian regime is collapsing.

The open letter calls on the Thai government not to be bewildered by the CCP's lies, and to recognize the evil nature of the CCP. Practitioners call on the Thai government not to act as an accomplice of the CCP and safeguard human morality and conscience. They also requested the Thai government to release the arrested practitioners, stop the harassment of Thai practitioners and allow them to conduct peaceful protests in front of the Chinese Embassy.

At the press conference, John Deller recounted his half-hour meeting with the Thai Consul General. The consul general said that he didn't know of the arrest of practitioners in his homeland. However, he was very concerned about this situation and promised to convey the practitioners' concerns and requests to his government. The consul also clearly stated that Thailand is an independent state, won't take CCP's orders, and practitioners have the right to peacefully express themselves at the Chinese Embassy.

Reportedly, all the arrested practitioners are UN refugees. The excuse of the Thai police was that the Chinese Embassy called them and asked them to arrest practitioners. Thai police allegedly said that it would detain them until another country will admit them. The arrested practitioners have started a hunger strike.

It is said that practitioners in Canberra and Victoria Province also conducted similar rallies and submitted open letters to the Thai Embassy and Consulate respectively.

Posting date: 12/18/2005
Original article date: 12/18/2005
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/12/17/116692.html

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