Thursday, May 10, 2012

"Coming for You"

On November 20, 2001, in an unprecedented appeal for the rights of the Chinese people, thirty-six Falun Gong practitioners from twelve countries raised a banner reading "Truth-Benevolence-Forbearance" and sat in a meditation pose on Tiananmen Square. They were arrested, beaten, and deported.

On November 20, 2001, at around 2 p.m., thirty-six Western practitioners from twelve countries gathered on Tiananmen Square. They sat in a meditation position, unfurled a large yellow banner emblazoned with the words “Truth-Benevolence-Forbearance,” shut their eyes, and began their Falun Gong meditation exercise.

Within seconds, several police vans rushed over and surrounded the group, and officers began dragging, kicking, punching, and pushing the practitioners into the vans. In response, they started to shout in Chinese: “Falun Gong is good!”

To date, hundreds of practitioners from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the USA, and several other countries have traveled to China, as their song sings: “Facing violence and danger, again and again I come for you; I come with love for you.”These thirty-six foreigners were the first of many foreign practitioners who traveled to China to hold peaceful appeals. Like their fellow practitioners in China, they wanted to let the Chinese people know the truth. In their own countries, they often pass out flyers to Chinese tourists who are surprised to learn that, contrary to what the Chinese government had led them to believe, Falun Gong is not banned in other countries. Sometimes they engage Chinese tourists in conversation and discover just how misinformed they are about Falun Gong. To let more Chinese people know the truth, they decided to go to China.

For their love of a traditional Chinese practice, for their benevolence to the Chinese people, they were arrested, mistreated, and deported; many were beaten, some severely. While most were arrested on Tiananmen Square, many were abducted while walking on the street or taken from their hotel rooms. While in detention, they were not allowed to contact their families or their embassies. They were interrogated and intimidated, and most had their valuable belongings robbed by the police. When they cited international standards for the treatment of foreign nationals, the police simply stated: “This is China.”

If the Chinese policemen have no inhibition in beating these foreigners, knowing that they are to be deported within hours, what would they not do to Chinese Falun Gong practitioners, whom they can incarcerate indefinitely?

From - http://falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=390&Itemid=78