EFGIC: Fifth Annual World Falun Dafa Day Celebrations Held in 50 Cities Worldwide

Falun Gong practitioners in New York City perform the dance “Heavenly Spectacle," depicting a scene from an ancient Chinese legend, which says that tens of thousands of years ago, Buddha saw the danger mankind’s moral decay would bring to living beings and decided to go down to the human world. The legend says the Celestial Kingdom was then filled with music and dance.

LONDON (EFGIC) – From Paris to Sydney, London to Tokyo, Falun Gong practitioners in approximately 50 cities around the world held activities celebrating twelve years since the practice was first made public in China by Mr. Li Hongzhi.

The celebrations included traditional dancing, singing and public demonstrations of the Falun Gong exercises.

Activities in most cities also carried a sobering message, as speeches and pictorial exhibitions revealed details of the violent, on-going persecution of Falun Gong in China. In some cities, Falun Gong practitioners exposed the torture techniques used by police and forced-labour camp personnel throughout China as part of an illicit campaign to “transform” Falun Gong practitioners into renouncing their beliefs.

An exercise and meditation practice with roots in ancient Chinese culture, Falun Gong flourished in China during the mid-to-late 1990’s, with Chinese government estimates putting the number of practitioners at 70-100 million people by the end of 1998.

In July 1999, however, the then-Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, launched a nation-wide campaign to “eradicate Falun Gong” out of fear that its widespread popularity was overshadowing his own legacy. China watchers believe Jiang also had other personal motives to attack the traditional Chinese practice (special report).

In more than a dozen countries around the world, both civil and criminal lawsuits have been filed against Jiang and several other senior Chinese officials known to be the primary instigators of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The lawsuits charge Jiang and his supporters with torture, genocide and crimes against humanity. (news / website)

Perhaps the most significant of the legal cases is a class-action lawsuit filed in Chicago, USA in 2002, naming Jiang and the '6-10 Office' – a Gestapo-like agency established by Jiang specifically to “eradicate Falun Gong” – as defendants. Oral arguments for the class-action suit, which is now on appeal before the 7th Circuit Court, will be heard on May 27th in Chicago.

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NEWS – May 18, 2004
European Falun Gong Information Centre, www.clearharmony.net

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Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Practised in over 50 countries world-wide, Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture. With government estimates of as many as 100 million practising Falun Gong, China's Communist leader Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report). Since that time, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practise it. The European Falun Gong Information Centre has verified details of 960 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2001, however, Government officials inside China reported that the actual death toll was well over 1,600. Expert sources now estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE EUROPEAN FALUN GONG INFORMATION CENTRE
Peter Jauhal + 44 (0) 7719 508 268 Nicolas Schols +32 47 98 75 734
More contacts. http://www.falungonginfo.net/europe.htm
Email: [email protected]