Italian Human Rights Organisation Again Published a Press Release to Declare Support for Falun Gong Practitioners' Human Rights

On 5th February, the HANDS OFF CAIN organisation attended a activity that Falun Gong practitioners arranged at the French Embassy.

Falun Gong practitioners organised this activity due to incidents where the French police illegally arrested and detained sixty five Falun Gong practitioners in Paris at the end of January. There is evidence that the French police used brutal and excessive methods to handle Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners were from America, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. They came to Paris to attend the Chinese New Year Celebrations staged by the Chinese and French Governments. The arrested people did not protest. They only wore yellow. Two women were arrested while they walked on the Champs Eylsees. When they asked the reason for their arrest the police said: “You are wearing yellow - today yellow is illegal.”

The incident happened during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to France. Economic cooperation between the two countries increased to 60% in the year 2003. The French government still wants to win projects in China. One is to build four nuclear power plants in the south of China. Another is to build a 1300 kilometre expressway from Beijing to Shanghai.

Falun Gong is a kind of spiritual exercise based on Buddhism. It is peaceful, not violent. Since it was introduced to the public in 1992, there were 70 million to 100 million practitioners in over sixty countries. Under the control of Jiang’s totalitarianism, it has been banned and persecuted since 1999. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested, sent to labour camps and killed from the cruel torture. When the Chinese government officers visited European countries, the host country always strongly requested not to allow Falun Gong practitioners to appear.

HANDS OFF CAIN pointed out that there are 3138 people who have received the death penalty in China this year. This makes up of 70% of the world total figure. The inside information of the Chinese Communist Party revealed that from 1998 to 2001, every year, there were at least 15,000 victims of the death penalty in China.