United States: The American People Support Car Tour to Rescue Charles Li

In order to expose the brutal persecution of Jiang and the "610 Office" against Falun Gong and American citizens, and to call for people from all walks of life to support justice and help bring Jiang to justice and secure the safe return of Charles Li to America, on August 18, the "Car Tour Around the US to Rescue Charles Li" travelled through the cities of Spokane of Washington State, Couer d' Alene of Idaho and Missoula of Montana. Practitioners visited county and city governments, human rights committees and local media, and received support from them.

Support from government officials

In the office of Idaho State Senator Larry Craig

In Spokane, when the practitioners talked with mayor candidate Steve Corker, he expressed his support for Falun Gong. He also said that he knew about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and would raise this important issue to the city council.

Support from the media

When the practitioners arrived in Missoula, Montana, it was past 5:00 p.m. and the media organisations were off work. However, the practitioners did not give up.

We fortunately met one employee who had not left. He saw us and came out to enquire and accepted our materials. Another person who was the last one left in his office saw us and accepted our materials as well. The third person we met was a reporter who was smoking a cigarette outside the door, and he seemed to be there waiting for us. When he listened to our introduction, he was deeply touched by our efforts and was very angry with the Chinese government for illegally detaining Charles Li and brutally persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He told us that he would track the event and make reports on it.

Support from people on our way

Practicing the exercises in front of the Missoula City Court

The car tour received support from people and collected many signatures on the way. In Missoula, a lady signed her name and expressed that she saw our practitioners at Ms. Zhang Cuiying's Painting Exhibit. She recognised one practitioner and walked up to him. She said, "I admire your spirit. I feel you have special energy. I also feel that I have a connection with you."

Another passerby said, "The Chinese government is like the Iraqi government that is suppressing its own people. All people with a sense of justice will support you." One other passerby said, "Bad people always attack goodness, because they don't believe in the existence of God. Evildoers will definitely meet with retribution."

The media is shocked at Jiang's brutal persecution

On August 19, the car tour held a press conference in front of the County Government Building in Bozman, Montana. Several media outlets such as ABC, KTVM and KBZK came to interview practitioners. When the reporter learnt that Jiang's regime uses all kinds of torture methods to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, he was astounded. He was also touched by the practitioners' painstaking efforts to rescue people. The reporter photographed our picture boards depicting the lawsuit against Jiang and the rescue effort of Charles Li. He also photographed us as we practised the exercises.

Clarifying the truth at a city council meeting

A practitioner clarifying the facts at the city council

That day there happened to be a city council meeting so the practitioners attended it and talked to the council about the lawsuit against Jiang and the persecution of American citizen Charles Li. After that, the practitioners visited the city government, and came across the City Attorney. At the beginning, he didn't show any interest in our visit. He started to show interest though when we clarified the facts and informed him of the case of Liu Qi and Xia Deren who had been found guilty in the San Francisco Federal Court. He carefully read through the materials about the lawsuit against Jiang, and expressed his interest in the case and requested us to leave the materials for the mayor and city council members.

Practitioners in the rescue group

In the afternoon, we arrived at one of the most famous natural sceneries in the US --- Yellowstone National Park. As tourism is at its peak at this time of year, there were many tourists, and many of them were Chinese people. When our car stopped, the prominent lamp on the top of the car with the words "Falun Dafa" and the many banners surrounding the car attracted many tourists. They came up to enquire about what we were doing. When they learnt about the persecution, they expressed their support for us. They also asked for Dafa truth-clarifying materials and signed their names. One couple said, "Thank you all. Upholding justice is the foundation for the establishment of the U.S. The American people have forgotten about it, but you have brought it back again. We will definitely visit your website."