Member of European Parliament signs a Petition calling on France to Protect the Liberty of Falun Gong practitioners and of France

On the 30th of April 2004, UK member of the European Parliament Chris Davies wrote to Falun Gong practitioners in his constituency and enclosed a signed petition entitled "Keep Liberty in France", which states the he "deeply regrets that the French government bowed to Chinese pressure, acted against the French values of liberty, equality, fraternity and arbitrarily arrested peaceful people who in no way had disburbed public order." The incident he refered to happened during Chinese official visits to Paris. The French authorities acted under Chinese pressure to arrest Falun Gong practitioners who were distributing leaflets exposing the brutal persecution in China, or were even simply walking in the street wearing yellow scarves with "Falun Gong" written on them. Mr Davies MEP demanded that the French authorities investigate the allegations and apologiese to victims unreservedly.