United States: Chinese Embassy Tries to Stop Practitioners Participating in Washington Parade

The Cherry Blossom Parade and Festival is one of the most attended events in Washington DC. On April 5th, seventy-eight groups from all over the nation participated in the 2003 Cherry Blossom Parade. Teachers and students from the Minghui School and over one hundred Falun Gong practitioners from DC, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina were invited to participate in the parade.

Sources from the organisers of the festival said that the organising committee had received several telephone calls from the Chinese Embassy about the invitation to the Falun Gong group. Falun Gong had first participated in the parade prior to April 1999. This was the fifth time that Falun Gong was invited to participate. The beautiful performances had left the organisers with a good impression and won praise from the audience. In the end, the organising committee withstood the pressure and refused the unreasonable request from Chinese Embassy.

A gentleman named Mr. Chen said that he has lived in DC for about 30 years. "I am very proud to see that a Chinese group led the parade in Washington DC. This is the first time that I have seen such scene."