According to Reuters, AP, and other news agencies, about 30 Falun Gong practitioners held an urgent press conference in Beijing on Thursday, October 28, 1999, right after the Chinese government publicly defamed Falun Gong as an "evil religion". This press conference is a significant event in the history of Falun Gong, and it showed the unimaginable courage of Falun Gong practitioners in the face of inhumane persecution.

It was reported that AP, Reuters, AFP, New York Times and other news agencies attended the press conference.

"Falun Gong is NOT an 'evil religion'"

During the press conference, practitioners refuted the groundless accusations made by the Chinese government, and said that they all feel indignant by the label of "evil religion". Many practitioners pointed out that Falun Gong has greatly benefited its practitioners both physically and mentally, and has attracted 100 million people in only seven years. Among practitioners, there are many party, government, and military officials at various levels. The number of Falun Gong practitioners is comparable to the number of communist party members. Therefore, some individuals in the central leaderships treat Falun Gong as a threat and took all means to fabricate and distort facts and crackdown on Falun Gong.

"Falun Gong practitioners in China are suffering inhumane persecutions"

Practitioners described the large-scale ill-treatments suffered by Falun Gong practitioners. A young practitioner of 11 years old described his experience of being expelled from the school just because he practices Falun Gong. Another practitioner, who was a policeman, was forced to make a choice between party membership and Falun Gong. He chose Falun Gong, and therefore had to take off the police uniform and give up his job. A practitioner from Dalian described the tortures suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in detention centers. Police tortured practitioners using all sorts of means, including shocking them using electric clubs. "You could smell the burning flesh."

"The persecution by the government is escalating"

The Chinese government claims to govern the state by the law. But according to the practitioners, 10 people have died of the brutal persecution. A young practitioner jumped out of the train when she was escorted back to her hometown by the police, because she could not stand the torture by the police. Another practitioner, Zhao Jin-hua, was tortured to death by the local police only because she refused to give up Falun Gong. "I cannot remain silent", said a practitioner who used to be a policeman, "the persecution by the government is escalating".

"We appeal to the world to stop Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong"

On behalf of all practitioners, a practitioner who used to be a manager in a foreign company appealed to the governments of different countries, human rights organizations, Amnesty International, United Nations, and all kindhearted people around the world to urge the Chinese government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong, to rescind the arrest warrant for Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, to release all the arrested practitioners, to return the justice to Falun Gong, and to return the freedom of belief to Falun Gong practitioners.