FGM-TV English News for October 9th, 2001

Falun Gong is freely practised in 40 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGM-TV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

 

Hello, and welcome to FGM-TV on October 9th, 2001. I’m Susan Mitchell.

 

In International news:

§   Reuters reports on Australian Gold Coast gathering of Falun Gong practitioners, when they formed an outline of the shape of China and the SOS message within it.

§  Again, from Australia: Police in Canberra are investigating the assault of a Falun Gong practitioner by a Chinese Embassy official there.

§  SOS walk starts in Portugal

§  Several cities in the United States honour Falun Dafa with proclamations

 

In Canada:

§   The University of Toronto Student Administrative Council gives strong support to the SOS initiative.

 

This week's update from China:

§   The number of Falun Gong practitioners known to have died while in detention is 294 as of today, although government sources in China say that the actual number exceeds one thousand.

§   Police murder a 38-year-old male Falun Gong practitioner by beating him and throwing him from a fourth floor window

§   Accounts of the sudden deaths of authorities who have viciously persecuted Falun Gong and practitioners

 

and…

for the first time in Korea, students of an elementary school finish their sports meet by doing the Falun Gong exercises together.

 

 

An Update on International SOS Walks around the world to urgently rescue Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China:

 

From a recent trip to the Canadian Arctic to the warmth of Portugal, our globetrotting practitioner from Toronto has begun the southern European section of the SOS Global Walk in Lisbon. Despite not knowing the language, with help from others in North America, flyers and information are being disseminated and thousands of Portuguese and tourists are having the opportunity to see the beautiful Falun Gong exercises.

 

The 8-day SOS! Global RescueWalk across Ireland was successfully concluded by meeting with an SOS! Urgent Rescue team on bike tour. The walking team and the bicycle team came together in the Cify of Cork where they met with a member of Parliament there and conducted interviews with local media.

Practitioners in Peru officially began their "SOS! Global RescueWalk" on September 28th. The walk will start in Lima, the capital, and finish in Ica in the south. The total distance for the walk is 300 km.

The University of Toronto's Student Administrative Council (SAC) is helping supporters of Falun Gong by calling them an SAC recognized group.

Liz Majic, SAC's Equity Commissioner, has encouraged the supporters to display a poster, hand out flyers, and post a petition for the SOS campaign in the SAC office. She confirms that, "The values for which the Falun Gong stand are respected by the students of the University of Toronto.

 

New Zealand practitioners walk near Auckland.

We also have a photo of the California practitioners on their way from Los Angeles to San Francisco. How could this colourful little column of people with their big hats, blue sashes and tiny yellow flags fail to move people’s hearts?

Reuters news agency Reported that

Members of Falun Dafa, which is also known as Falun Gong, formed the shape of China in Broadbreach on Queensland's Gold Coast October 5, 2001, during a global awareness campaign of "SOS Urgent!: Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners in China". The more than 500 representatives there came from Taiwan, China, Africa, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Korea. They joined Falun Dafa practitioners from throughout the Asia Pacific region who came to honor those who have lost their lives and to those who have been denied the freedom of belief in China where Falun Gong is persecuted.

 

and again, from Australia:

 

An official from the Chinese Embassy in Canberra crossed the road in front of the Embassy to tell practitioners who were peacefully meditating that they shouldn’t be there. When reminded that Australian law permitted their presence there, the man began to yell abusively. Thinking he might become physically violent, a practitioner took two photographs. Noticing this, the official tried to grab the camera and slapped the practitioner across the face. The camera was passed back to another practitioner and the Embassy official grabbed the person’s wrist. Practitioners then said they would call police. At this time, several other embassy staff came over, grabbed the official and pulled him back into the Embassy.

 

Police are currently investigating the incident, and the photographs will be used as evidence.

 

Several cities in the United States have recently honoured Falun Dafa with proclamations:

 

Mayor Lillian Webb proclaimed October 6th to be Falun Dafa Day in Norcross, Georgia

 

Mayor Roger Quiroga proclaimed September 10-16 to be Falun Dafa week in Galveston, Texas

 

 

Mayor Jaron Akers of the City of Plano, Texas Proclaimed it to be Falun Dafa Week, September 10 to 16 in his city.

 

and

Mayor Shirley Fanning-Lassiter proclaimed October  1st to be Falun Dafa day in Duluth, Georgia.

 

And now, some current news from China:

 

It was reported this week that police have murdered another male practitioner, 38-year-old Wang Yongdong. On Sept. 21, 2001, police from the county broke into his home without a warrant and ransacked it. Wang, who was home at the time resisted their illegal actions, whereupon the police beat him severely and threw him out the fourth floor window of the building, causing his death. Later police lied by saying that he committed suicide.

Strong resistance from Wang's relatives has managed to delay the cremation of his corpse, which should help in the investigation. Citizens have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the current policy of local leaders towards Falun Gong in Wang’s area, and people in the surrounding villages and towns are outraged.

 

In several of his lectures, Teacher Li Hongzhi has stated that the righteous thoughts of Falun Dafa practitioners have tremendous power.

We have received numerous reports of practitioners who, after being illegally detained, have been able to walk out of police stations and detention centers in full sight of authorities, without being stopped.

One such person, after regaining his freedom, reported the following disturbing news about the camp where he was detained:

After Shuanghe Labor Camp became a holding center for Falun Gong practitioners, the non-practitioner inmates no longer regard themselves as prisoners under rehabilitation. Instead, they now work in conjunction with the guards, following the guards’ directions to beat and harass Falun Gong practitioners. The inmates are often even more brutal than the fiercest guards and at least one prisoner’s term was greatly reduced and she was ultimately released from jail for her ‘work’ in persecuting practitioners.

 

Retribution stories:

 

On September 18, 2001, a firecracker explosion in Liji Town in the Huangban area of Wuhan City in Hubei Province killed 17 people and critically injured 7 others. All local government and police departments in this area have viciously tortured many Falun Gong practitioners.

 

Among the 17 who were killed, were the deputy mayor, the vice secretary of the Communist party and the secretary of the political and legislative committee in Liji town. The victims of this accident also included 5 police officers.

 

And accounts of more sudden deaths of police who beat practitioners:

On the evening of June 28, 2001, Xu Zhilian, a Falun Dafa practitioner and teacher at Fuqin Elementary School in Jinniu District of Chengdu City in Sichuan Province, was beaten to death by the police. The two policemen responsible died suddenly soon after Xu's death.

In July, Li Guangrong, a policeman in his 40s from Zhengjie Police Station, Qingyang District in Chengdu City, went to Beijing to pick up a practitioner who was illegally sent to Jiuru Village Detention Center.

Fifteen days later, a different policeman came to pick up this practitioner who asked, "Why didn't Li Guangrong come?" The policeman answered, "Why didn't he come? He died! He got a sudden fever the third day after you were arrested. The hospital couldn't find the cause and he died after midnight."

Areas of China where practitioners have been tortured have also suffered calamities:

 

On September 19, 2001, an earthquake occurred in the Zibo area of Shandong Province. Many other areas also felt the earthquake. Zibo City is where the evil Wangcun Labor Camp is located.

 

FGMTV offers its congratulations to the practitioners in Norway on the official founding of the Norwegian Falun Dafa Association.

 

and our final news item for today takes us to Pusan, Korea, where an elementary school concluded its school sports meeting with a group practice of Falun Gong exercises. This was the first time for a Korean school to learn and practice Falun Gong together and the children’s efforts received enthusiastic applause from students and parents alike.

 

Thanks for watching FGM-TV, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.