UK Falun Gong practitioners hold Public Appeal Events during Visit of China's Vice-President

On 28 October 2001, about 50 UK Falun Gong practitioners from around the UK gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy to appeal to the visiting Chinese Vice President, Mr Hu Jin Tao, to personally ensure fair treatment of Falun Gong in China, to dismiss the 6.10 Office and bring Luo Gan to justice. Mr Hu was visiting London 28-30 October and Edinburgh [Scotland] 31 October - 1 November.

Practitioners in the UK also took this opportunity to expose the severe persecution of Falun Gong in China to the UK government, media, business community, academic community and urge them to help to protect the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners in China, UK and other European countries. In particular two cases were highlighted to the political, business and academic leaders: that of Dublin student Zhao Ming, who was sent to a labour camp without trial and who has been severely tortured, and that of Alfredo Favo-Minor, who was refused access to his company and property in China because of his peaceful human rights activities in Italy. The plight of UK practitioners affected by the persecution was also presented to the relevant organizations.

Practitioners set up banners, across the street from the Chinese Embassy, stating the practitioners' requests. They also did the gentle exercises of Falun Gong as well as sending forth righteous thoughts. A practitioner said that as soon as he arrived at the scene, he felt that it was a very righteous field.The Chinese Embassy hired some people to play loud drums and percussion musical instruments in an attempt to get Mr Hu not to notice the protestors, which also included democracy and Tibetan groups. Under this special situation, to ensure our message get through to Mr Hu, practitioners used a loud speaker to read out the words on our banners. Many important guests and delegation members entering the Embassy paid much attention to our messages, some stood still to read our banners for extended periods. The compassionate righteous field formed by our practitioners moved many people. One Tibetan protester immediately joined our practitioners to do the exercises. Several media organizations arrived to cover the event and a UK Falun Gong spokesperson was interviewed on camera by two separate television crews. The Falun Gong Association (UK) also issued an open letter to Mr Hu, highlighting the serious nature of the persecution and setting out our requests

Reported from the UK
30 October 2001