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| A public exhibition of torture techniques used daily under Jiang Zemin’s regime in China aims to expose the ongoing atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners. The exhibition concludes on Wednesday in Chicago’s Federal Plaza. |
As part of events to build public understanding of the extensive persecution against Falun Gong in China that lead to the lawsuit in Chicago federal court against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, Falun Gong practitioners are enacting methods of torture in the exhibition “Persecution Meets Principle.”
Participants explain that by depicting actual scenes of torture carried out daily in China’s labour camps, the public will learn of the scale of the suffering under Jiang’s crimes. According to a survey taken in the late nineties, there were 70 – 100 million practitioners of Falun Gong in China.
Actors pose as sunglasses-wearing policemen administering beatings, injections, and rope tortures to detainees. Props replicate actual torture devices, such as cages spiked with nails, bamboo under fingernails, and tubing for force-feeding. The scenarios elicit murmurs of shock and shaking heads from passersby. Actual survivors of such tortures in China are on hand to explain the multiple-scene exhibition.
The exhibition will run the final time on Chicago’s Federal Plaza all day Wednesday.
Other events so far included a Sunday conference of about 2,500 Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world at the Rosemont Convention Center. The gathering focused on the actual practice of Falun Gong: improving oneself according to Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. Papers were delivered in Chinese and English by several practitioners. A highlight was a 45-minute lecture by the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi.
On Saturday, a parade of more than 1,000 flowed through the heart of Chicago’s Chinatown. The beauty of traditional Chinese culture showed in the dances of ladies in Tang and Song Dynasty dress. The current concerns of Falun Gong practitioners were seen in the peaceful carrying of signs seeking the end of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and bringing Jiang Zemin to justice. Chicago’s Chinese community witnessed a demonstration of bright colours, uplifting music, and peaceful determination.
NEWS – May 26, 2004
European Falun Gong Information Centre, www.clearharmony.net
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 966 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.
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]
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