The Epoch Times: Wave of Harassing Phone Calls with Communist Propaganda

Many people in at least 12 Western countries received pre-recorded messages defaming Falun Gong on their home and mobile phones on Sunday

NEW YORK - Across Europe and North America, people received coordinated waves of pre-recorded phone calls on Sunday. The content defames Falun Gong, in both English and Chinese language.

“This is harassment, it’s a provocative act,” said Falun Dafa Infocenter spokesperson Erping Zhang, who personally received six of the calls.

The Epoch Times first learned of the calls in Europe. People in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom and Switzerland all reported the calls.

In the U.S., people in the New York metropolitan area received calls at approximately 10:45 a.m. EST, 2:30 p.m. EST, and 3:00 p.m. EST. People in California and eastern Canada also received the calls.

“This is a message spreading lies of the Chinese communist regime, and stirring up hatred,” said Li Li of New Jersey, who received six calls Sunday.

A main point of the recorded messages is the so-called self-immolation incident of four years ago. A small group of people were set on fire in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on January 23, 2001, an incident that was immediately used by the state-controlled media in China in attempts to damage the image of Falun Gong.

Non-governmental organizations have labeled the incident a hoax. Falun Gong teachings forbid killing of any kind, including suicide. People in China have no access to either the original teachings of Falun Gong, or to free media, so they are not aware of the inconsistencies in the communist-controlled media portrayals of Falun Gong and the self-immolation incident.

Public confusion in China over the incident has enabled the communist party to continue its lethal campaign of propaganda and torture against Falun Gong. The faluninfo.net website of the Falun Dafa Infocenter reports that more than 1300 people are confirmed dead in the campaign, but the actual number could be ten or 100 times that. International attorneys have categorized the campaign against Falun Gong as genocide.

Originally published at http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-2-6/26319.html