(Clearwisdom.net) According to reports from the Falun Dafa Information centre there has been a recent escalation of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Around the country, many practitioners have recently been arrested and tortured. Overseas practitioners in different countries organised strong protests in response, appealing to bring those responsible (Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang) to justice. According to information centre statistics to date, in the month of February alone, twenty-six Falun Gong practitioners were killed. Since last November ninety two practitioners were verified as having been tortured to death. In total, there are 931 documented death cases in this persecution campaign.
Presently, more cases of Falun Gong practitioners being tortured to death have been exposed. The cruel nature of the torture methods used is blood curdling. It was reported on Clearwisdom.net, in the middle of September 2003, that prisoners and prison wardens in the Heilongjiang women's prison use devious methods such as beating, starvation, thirst, fatigue, filth etc to torture practitioners for up to eleven days. In the mornings they would punish them physically, at night they would not allow them to sleep, use toothpicks to prop open the eyelids, put tape across the mouths, beat them with bamboo sticks, use large needles to prick the legs and even throw salt water into the eyes etc.
Fifty one year old retired teacher Zhang Shu Zhen from Haidian district Yuanda secondary school refused to give up her faith in Falun Gong. Consequently, she was given a poisonous injection, resulting in terrible damage to her stomach, her stomach was so swollen it was even larger than that of a pregnant woman. Zhang Shu Zhen died from the persecution on 9th Oct 2002.
Zhang Xidong, male, thirty-four years old, was an employee of a chemical industrial firm. On the 7th December 2003, he was arrested together with ten other practitioners and detained in a Lanzhou city detention centre. Fifty-three days later, news of his death spread suddenly. His mother Bai Jinyu was also arrested at the same time on the 7th December and detained in another detention centre. Family members were not allowed to visit her and whether she is alive or dead is unknown. Zhang Xidong's wife was illegally sentenced to three years re-education for persisting in practicing Falun Gong. She has now been illegally detained for two years. A normal family of five has been destroyed by the local police station because of practicing Falun Gong: one is dead, two are detained leaving behind a grandfather and grandson, helpless and alone.
In order to more effectively bring an end to this persecution, after the appeal at the Chinese embassy in Munich on the 17th February, Dafa practitioners made their way to the busy city centre streets. In Odeon Splatz Square, they exposed the vile deeds committed by the Jiang regime and appealed to the public to bring the chief instigators of the persecution, Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang to justice. The exhibition stand was set up in front of the Command building, which is a commemorative memorial built in 1844, in memory of the victory of the Bagelia army of the war in 1870. The lion symbolizes courage. Everyday, there is a constant stream of passing tourists and passersby.
Banners in Chinese and German appealing to bring Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang to justice hung prominently in the centre of the square. Large photos exposing the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners surrounded the exhibition stand. People were constantly attracted. The prominent slogans, the peaceful energy field created by the exercises, the display boards showing the spread of Dafa worldwide, and the photos of the brutal persecution formed a sharp contrast. The question people asked most was what is the objective of this persecution? On obtaining the answer, many would sign their names on the forms in support of suing Jiang. After seeing the photos, many people also took copies of the newspapers placed beside it and took the initiative to sign the petition forms.
A lady from Amnesty International said, when she heard the truth of the persecution, she could not remain calm for several weeks, all she kept thinking of was how to help Falun Gong practitioners, how to stop this persecution. She prepared many postcards to send to the German government, requesting them to help stop China from persecuting Falun Gong. She had already distributed these postcards to many friends and relatives.
When a practitioner asked a middle aged man if he would like some information, he cried, saying he simply could not bear to read about how Falun Gong practitioners were bring cruelly treated. When asked to sign the petition supporting the lawsuit against Jiang, he said he had already signed it. Later on, he came to the exhibition stand again and had a long conversation with practitioners.
Many people from China also came to the square. Some expressed support for Falun Gong practitioners. There were others who wanted to watch Mr. Li Hongzhi's lectures. Yet there were some who could not understand the actions of practitioners, regarding this as being involved in politics. Some dared not admit that they know Chinese and were afraid to take the information handed out by practitioners. Through this, one can see how the Jiang regime has poisoned the minds of the Chinese people with lies and propaganda and how important it is for practitioners to explain the facts to them.
Many practitioners came from several hundred miles away to take part in this event. Some even came with their babies from very far away cities. There were also others who came from Salzburg in Austria. The actual participants greatly exceeded the amount anticipated by the practitioners who organized this activity. After the event, many practitioners mentioned that we should put more effort into clarifying the truth and such activities should be held more often.
Category: April 25 Events
