[Minghui Net] Recently the news media took advantage of the Tiananmen self-immolation incident to launch another round of criticism against Falun Gong. In order to deceive the public, they interviewed some average people on the street and reported some negative opinions. But we all know that because of government pressure and control, no one who speaks the truth sincerely will be interviewed in front of a video camera. Following are the sincere opinions of average people when they are not under any pressure:

Driver Chen: I don't believe in the so-called "1400" cases of death reported on TV, or about people jumping out of buildings, or that some have accumulated wealth by unfair means, etc. Obviously, they are all fabricated lies. There are over one hundred Falun Gong practitioners in my village, and they are all responsible, good people. None of them do wrong things or violate the law and both their speech and their actions are dignified.

Teacher Yang: I don't understand it at all. The Falun Gong practitioners I know are all very kind-hearted and behave well at the workplace and at home. To say they are evil--I cannot believe it. However, the situation has become upside-down now, and all these kind people have been put into jail.

Policeman Fu: The higher authorities ordered us to arrest Falun Gong practitioners. However, they are not bad people who violate the law. They go to Beijing and persist in their cultivation even after being detained and sent to labor camps. There must be some reason behind it. I should also handle myself well when dealing with them.

Jiao XX (a primary school pupil): My father practices Falun Gong. Since he started to practice, he became gentler and did not fight with my mother any more. My grandma said that he is the most filial. All the people at my village also said that my father is good, because he would help whoever was having difficulties. However, my father went to Beijing to appeal last year, and was detained at the Changchun Fenjin Labor Camp. Now, he has served his time but has still not been released. My mother told me that my father was beaten and that he suffered a lot at the labor camp for refusing to be "transformed." I miss my father very much and hope he will be released soon.

Ding XX (Self-employed): I think Falun Gong practitioners are good people. I'm not a practitioner, but my two older brothers and their spouses are. Since they started to practice Falun Gong, they became gentler to my parents. My older brothers refrained from bad habits such as gambling and hard drinking, and their spouses did not abuse people anymore. If more people in our society practiced Falun Gong, there would be no more crime.

Lu XX (housewife): I just know that Falun Gong is the cultivation of Buddhahood. People who cultivate Buddhahood are benevolent. In my neighborhood, more than ten Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and sentenced to forced-labor. Right now, it is the good people who are suffering.

A student at a junior high school: The teacher in charge of our class is a Falun Gong practitioner. Initially, our parents worried that we would receive bad influences from her because CCTV said that Falun Gong is a "XX" [slanderous word respectfully omitted]. Now we know that Falun Gong practitioners are all good people. Our teacher instructed us, not only in scientific knowledge, but also in how to be students with both good moral characters and strong capabilities. She allowed us to make up missed lessons free of charge and never asked students for even a penny. Our class had fewer fees than any other. Our teacher returned all the gifts the students presented to her. From her, we got to know about Falun Gong. We should apologize to Falun Gong practitioners and ask them to pardon our initial misunderstanding. Right now she is detained for promoting the Fa and we have lost our best teacher. We miss you, teacher!

Peng XX (self-employed): I have read the Falun Gong books. They all teach people to become good persons. There's nothing "evil" in them. Falun Gong practitioners are all good people, and nobody can deny this.

Su XX (self-employed): In the beginning, I did not believe that the police at the labor camps could be so dark minded. After she was detained for going to Beijing to appeal, I visited my older sister twice at the labor camp. I saw wounds all over her face and neck and I did not know how they had been inflicted. I saw that other practitioners also had wounds. When she was released, my older sister told me that the police at the Jilin Female Labor Camp had brutally beaten the practitioners, locked them in small cells, tied them to iron wire beds, and tortured them with electric batons. Many times, my older sister almost died from the torture. If she had not been released, but had been beaten to death in the labor camp, we would not even know the cause of her death. How can the people's justice department treat these kind people in such a way? We also heard that at the Liaoning Masanjia Labor Camp, 18 female practitioners were completely stripped of their clothing and pushed into male criminal cells, and that many practitioners were beaten to death in other jails and labor camps. We are very angry with this, and we strongly demand that the persecutors be severely punished.

Bai XX (civil servant): The government banned Falun Gong after the practitioners greatly benefited from it. Is it not because they benefited personally that they risk their lives to protect Falun Gong?

Xue XX: Presently the Party has really gone too far. They tolerate the problem of corruption, and then forbid elderly people from doing exercises in the public parks. They have really going too far.

Li XX: The police from a substation came to my house to investigate Falun Gong, since my wife is a practitioner. They asked me about Falun Gong and I said, "Falun Gong is good." They then asked me which one, the XX party or Falun Gong is good. I said Falun Gong, because Falun Gong practitioners are all kind, moral, people who love justice.

Professor Zhang: Self-immolation? The Falun Gong practitioners I know are all kind-hearted, willing to help others, and wise. They are optimistic even after being beaten badly by police, saying: "Don't worry. Sooner or later the Fa will be rectified." This self-immolation incident for sure is a vicious plot hatched by Old Jiang.

Secretary Li: This is the way it is in politics. If you want to fix somebody, you need to play some tricks, don't you? Otherwise, who will follow you when you decide to kick up a row? It's just another case of "inciting the masses to fight against masses?" It is just like this. As for the truth, don't probe into it anymore. When the case is redressed, of course it will be another story...

(Interviewed and compiled by Falun Gong practitioners in China)