Monday, November 6, 2000
Members of the Falun Gong meditation [group] ran newspaper ads on Monday extending a ''welcome'' to a visiting communist leader but demanding an end to Beijing's crackdown of the group outlawed on the mainland.
''We sincerely hope that you and other kind and fair-minded government leaders can stand on the people's side and defend Falun Gong,'' [group] adherents said in their ads placed in the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily and Apple Daily.
The message was aimed at Li Ruihuan, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a mainland government advisory body, and also a member of the Communist Party's politburo.
Mr Li is on a five-day visit to Hong Kong, where on Sunday he urged local government leaders to run the territory better than the previous British colonial administration had governed.
''Hong Kong Falun Gong members welcome the visit of chairman Li Ruihuan,'' read the ad, which was framed in red, the colour of the Communist Party.
The Falun Gong members asked Mr Li to stop President Jiang Zemin and his aides from continuing an ''illegal'' crackdown on Falun Gong and to resolve the dispute in a ''peaceful and fair'' way.
Kan Hung-cheung, a spokesman for Falun Gong in Hong Kong, said the group would send a petition by mail and by hand to Mr Li's hotel - and possibly to the mainland's representative office before Mr Li's return to Beijing on Thursday.
The group said it planned no demonstrations, however.
''We regard chairman Li as a respectful and caring senior government official,'' said Mr Kan. ''We welcome him and don't want to disturb his visit with any radical actions.''
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Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
