Germany: Press Conferences held in Many Cities Calling for Justice and Dignity

An Epoch Times report from Hanover, Germany
April 3 2003

In Hanover there is a cloth featuring the words “Gerechtigkeit und Menschenwuerde wiederherstellen”, hanging on a wall outside the City Hall. In English this means “Restore justice and humanity dignity.” This morning, in this hall, the German Falun Dafa Association and several Falun Gong practitioners from Germany and the USA formally announced to the public that during the period of Jiang Zemin’s visit to Germany in April 2002, Falun Gong practitioners’ basic human rights endowed by the constitution, were violated by the German Federal Police in Goslar. To expose the conduct of the police, the German Falun Dafa Association, several members of the German public and some American Falun Gong practitioners served lawsuits to the administrative courts of the areas where the incidents occurred.

The German Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Domestic Affairs of Niedersachen, the Ministry of Domestic Affairs of Brandenburg, and the Ministry of Domestic Affairs of Sachsen were also served with lawsuits on the same day and press conferences were held in Berlin and Dresden.

When Falun Gong practitioners peacefully appealed during Jiang Zemin’s visit to Goslar last April, the local media reported that German police confiscated Falun Gong practitioner’s yellow clothes and banners. Goslar’s newspapers published a photo showing German police wearing masks to weld sewer lids closed on the roads that Jiang’s entourage drove down. Many citizens still vividly remember the rumbling helicopters overhead as well as the unusual sight of a police car stationed at every junction to block pedestrians. Elderly citizens told reporters that they had only seen this kind of behaviour in the Nazi era.

A Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Carolina Kirp, who is a German citizen and a university student studying education in Heidelberg, attended the press conference. She talked about her personal experiences last year in Goslar. After Jiang left, she was told by the police: “Now you can go wherever you want to go. You’re now in a free country again.” Carolina had been to Tiananmen Square to present a petition for Falun Gong with her father and sister last January. Because she is German, she did not want to keep silent whilst a dictator who is an embarassment to the Chinese people made a mockery of German democracy and freedom.

A media reporter noticed that during Jiang’s stay, the telephone kiosks in Goslar were very different from those in the rest of Germany. All German telephone booths are bright yellow, whilst the ones in Goslar were an ugly jet-black. Although we have no way to prove this phenomenon, it seems to be related to Jiang’s fear of the colour yellow. Several very odd incidents occurred during Jiang’s stay in Germany, such as Asian people being expelled from hotel rooms and yellow flowers on reception room tables being removed.

Mr. Peter Muller, who is 70 years old and from the International Human Rights Association, protested during Jiang’s visit. He pointed out that Falun Gong is an issue of personal belief as well as a peaceful practice. He asked why Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted, and talked about this from his own viewpoint: “Falun Gong practitioners are cool, composed, and peaceful and have principles; characteristics the Chinese Communist Party are scared of more than anything. These kind people can’t be changed by politics, nor defeated by autocracy. The Communist Party seeks, by any means, to make Falun Gong into the nation’s enemy, which of course it is not.”

Having experienced persecution in China, Ms. Yuzhi Wang from Canada, talked about Jiang’s suppression of Falun Gong from a personal angle. She said that because she is a Falun Gong practitioner, she was sent to a forced labour camp three times and suffered brutal torture and torment. She escaped to the United Arab Emirates where she was again persecuted by Chinese officials. The United Arab Emirates’ police arrested her and agreed to send her back to China under pressure from the Chinese Consualte. Through the efforts of Canadian practitioners and the Canadian government, she escaped to Canada and began to tell the international media the truth about her experiences in China. Her family members, who do not practise Falun Gong, were also sent to labour camps or imprisoned because she exposed the Jiang regime’s persecution. She appealed to the German government to ask them to gain a clear understanding of the evil nature of Jiang Zemin’s regime.

Falun Gong practitioners also showed the written apology from the Minister of Domestic Affairs in Berlin Dr. Koerting, who guaranteed that the police in Berlin will never behave so irrationally again. The German Federal Ministry of the Interior, who instigated the Federal Police behaviour at the time, is carrying out continuous constructive dialogues with Falun Gong practitioners.

According to Falun Gong practitioners, the reason for serving these lawsuits is to establish the facts concerning human rights transgressions against Falun Gong practitioners during Jiang's Zemin’s state visit to Germany in April 2002. This will prevent such acts occurring in the future. Falun Gong practitioners also expressed that the lawsuit itself is not the purpose, but they are using this form to tell the German government that it must seriously deal with this affair. Emphasis on effective discussions is a priority if Falun Gong is to get a written apology from the lawsuit recipients as well as the Ministry of Domestic Affairs in an open public declaration. As soon as this happens, the German Falun Dafa Association will withdraw the lawsuit.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanmingeurope.net/articles/200304/19052.html