Germany: Appealing to the French Embassy, Consulates and German-French Friendship Associations in Germany

Germany: Appealing to the French Embassy, Consulates and German-French Friendship Associations in Germany

On the 1st of February, 2001, a press release was distributed to major media organisations in Germany by the German Falun Gong Information Centre. It stated that about fifty people wearing yellow clothing, from Germany, the U.S., the U.K., Denmark, Taiwan, Norway and France, had been arrested in the Sino-French New Year celebration activities in Paris. Among them were seventeen Germans or Chinese people who live in Germany.

Last week and this week, German Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested in Paris went to the French Embassy in Berlin and consulates in Munich, Frankfurt, Saarbruecken, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Hannover and Leipzig one after another to present appeal letters to the French officials and ask them to forward the letters to the French Government.

Wolfgang Blau, a resident of Berlin who was arrested by police whilst watching the Chinese Spring Festival Parade on the Champs Eylsees with his friend, said, “My friend and I were standing on the pavement of the Champs Eylsees along with a huge crowd watching the parade, and in my hand was a flag displaying the Chinese characters ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.’ Upon seeing my flag, many people smiled at me. Many Chinese people even appeared more friendly towards me after clearly recognising the Chinese characters on the flag. After we had watched the parade for about an hour, four or five policemen suddenly walked towards us and surrounded us. A policeman took away my flag, while another one grabbed my arm and pulled towards a narrow street, Rue De Berri.” His companion Thomas Kalmund, who was from Heidelberg, also experienced the same treatment from the police because he was wearing a Falun Gong badge on his jacket.

In the police station, the practitioners’ passports were examined. Although they asked the police many times, in both French and English, for the reason why they were arrested, the only answer they got was, “At a meeting on that morning, an order was given that everyone who wears yellow clothing and the people related to Falun Gong must be inspected, and they are not allowed to approach this large-scale parade.”

After returning to Berlin, Wolfgang contacted an official of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wolfgang said, "After listening to my explanation, an assistant to Mrs. Roth, a human rights specialist of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “Although French police have the right to inspect pedestrians, this incident is obviously aimed at Falun Gong practitioners. It breaches the freedom of speech and the freedom of belief.””

Last Tuesday Wolfgang went to the French Embassy in Berlin. He presented an appeal letter addressed to the French government, along with the written experiences of three western Falun Gong practitioners from Berlin who were arrested in Paris. He told journalists that the purpose of sending the message to the French government was to point out that this was not an ordinary security check, but an action aimed at Falun Gong, and that it was actually support for Jiang Zemin’s persecution of Falun Gong. The Jiang regime didn’t want people from Mainland to know that Falun Gong exists overseas and learn the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He added that even so, many Chinese from China still saw Falun Gong in Paris. He and other practitioners talked to Chinese people in many tourist spots and distributed Mandarin leaflets to them.

In the conclusion of his letter to the French government, Wolfgang expressed his views as a European citizen: “As a European citizen, I am ashamed of France, which is a democratic nation that succumbed to the Chinese Government’s pressure and trampled on freedom of belief. I hope that the French government can, in the near future, recollect our living norms in free countries and make a public apology.”

Prior to leaving for Paris, Lilly from Munich had been to the French consulate in Munich once to appeal for Paris authorities’ succumbing to the Chinese government’s pressure and failing to allow Falun Gong practitioners to participate in the Paris Chinese New Year Celebration Parade. At first, the French official who received her had some misunderstanding of Falun Gong. After Lilly’s patient and detailed explanation, this official came to know that Falun Gong is peaceful, and realised the extent of the persecution in China. He also warm-heartedly suggested Lily write an appeal letter to the French Embassy in Berlin, to reflect the incident that Falun Gong was banned from participating in Paris’s grand parade.

After returning from Paris, Lily once again met with this official and talked about the incident where more than fifty Falun Gong practitioners were unreasonably arrested in Paris. On one hand, this official was very pleased to learn that Falun Gong held two very successful parades, although practitioners didn’t participate in the Spring Festival Celebration Parade organised by Paris City Authorities. On the other hand, after knowing that German Falun Gong practitioners were arrested, he said that he would forward the letter to the authorities concerned in the French government.

Ija, from Mannheim, visited a local Germany-France Friendship Association where she talked about the Paris incident to people there. Many people attentively listened to her explanation and were really shocked by the actions of the French police action.

The press release given to the media by the German Falun Gong Information Centre on February the 1st stated that in this incident in Paris, “Chinese secret agents disseminated lies and instigated distrust.” They were certain that the French authorities took inappropriate measures this time under Jiang’s pressure, in a similar manner to the incident that took place during Jiang Zemin’s visit to Germany in April 2002. According to a file the German Falun Gong Information Centre acquired from the German Federal Criminal Police Bureau, the Jiang regime started to disseminate lies and instigate distrust against Falun Gong in Germany in early 2002. Although the information from the German security authorities collected from various sources indicated that not only the Falun Gong activities in Germany but also in the world as a whole are always peaceful, they were still misled by the lies. Some departments in the German Government have already formally apologised to Falun Gong practitioners for the inappropriate security measures taken by them in April 2002.