United States: San Francisco Practitioners Hold Peaceful Appeal Outside the Chinese Consulate Over Shooting Incident in South Africa

On the afternoon of June the 29th, Falun Gong practitioners from the Northern California Bay Area held a press conference outside the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco condemning Jiang's political group for hiring gunmen overseas to shoot practitioners and extending Jiang's policy of state terror overseas to other countries. Practitioners exposed Jiang's group's violent persecution of Falun Gong practitioners outside China. They requested that the criminals who hired the gunman to shoot practitioners in South Africa be severely punished.

Letting people know the facts at the press conference	Calling for punishing the criminals	Hiring gunman to shoot people exposes Jiang's group's crimes against humanity

At the press conference, Coordinator Ms. Zhao Chen said in her statement that on June 28, during Chinese Deputy National Chairman Zeng Qinghong's visit to South Africa, a Falun Gong practitioner was shot by hired gunmen in Johannesburg. At 6 pm on June 28, nine Falun Gong practitioners from Australia arrived at Johannesburg, South Africa. On their way to the Presidential Guest House, they were shot. Among them, an Australian citizen Mr. David Liang was shot in both feet and injured. According to one of the nine practitioners, they were going to file a lawsuit against the Deputy Chinese National Chairman, Zeng Qinghong, who was visiting South Africa on official business. Zeng Qinghong is suspected of hiring the gunmen to shoot practitioners.

Ms. Zhao Chen pointed out that this incident reminded people of the long list of incidents organized by Jiang's group against Falun Gong practitioners outside China. In Chicago, a practitioner's vehicle was burned in front of the Chinese Consulate. In New York, Falun Gong practitioners were beaten by pro- Communist business association members. When Falun Gong practitioners went to Iceland to protest Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong, the Chinese government provided a blacklist to the Iceland airline to bar Falun Gong practitioners from boarding the flights to Iceland. The South Africa incident is not an isolated one. Jiang's group feared having their criminal acts exposed and therefore, each time, when Falun Gong practitioners were to reveal their atrocities, some kind of incident would occur.

Ms. Zhang from San Francisco said that in 2000, Jiang's group hired some thugs to attack Falun Gong practitioners in the Garden Corner Park in San Francisco. When I heard about the South Africa incident, I did not feel that was an accident. Today, I specially came to the Chinese Consulate in hope that more people would learn about the facts. Jiang's group has attacked and harassed Falun Gong practitioners outside China. In the U.S., for example, such incidents have taken place in New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

Ms. Zhang said that Falun Gong practitioners are all good people who follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. However, Jiang's group applies such brutal means to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. When the South Africa incident occurred, only one practitioner wore a jacket imprinted with the words "Falun Dafa". The gunmen shot him several time, shattering the bones in one of his feet. The reason for Zeng Qinghong to do such a thing is to attempt to prevent people from practising Falun Gong. Fundamentally speaking, that is to prevent people from choosing to live their lives as good people with a high moral standard. He fears that all people will want to learn to live according to the principle of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.

It is reported that Zeng Qinghong who led the delegation to visit South Africa is Jiang Zemin's major accomplice in the suppression of Falun Gong. He was nicknamed the "black-faced killer" by fellow ruling party members. His means to make others suffer was well known to be extremely ferocious. In the South Africa shooting incident, Zeng Qinghong is suspected to be responsible for hiring gunmen to shoot practitioners.

Mr. Zhang, a computer engineer said that he felt shocked upon hearing about the shooting incident. He said that this incident was the first time such a shooting had taken place outside of China. In the world outside China, many people are clear that Falun Gong practitioners are the most peaceful people. In Mainland China, it has been a common occurrence that the Jiang's group abused their power to wantonly shoot Falun Gong practitioners. In fact, this incident indicates that Jiang's group has already extended its policies of state terrorism to other countries, and extended its policy to shoot Falun Gong practitioners to overseas. As a Falun Gong practitioner outside China, I have my responsibility to stand up and tell more people about the facts of this incident and call for an end to this persecution.

It was reported that on March 5, 2002, because Falun Gong practitioners successfully tapped into Changchun cable TV network to broadcast truth-clarifying video programs, Jiang Zemin issued the order to "kill Falun Gong practitioners without mercy". The "610 Office" (1) from the Central government played an important role in implementing Jiang's secret orders of "completely eradicating (Falun Gong)" and "shooting and killing (Falun Gong practitioners) is allowed". Subsequently, police officers of many provinces and cities received the secret order that they were allowed to shoot Falun Gong practitioners and kill them.

Matt Gnaizda, a student majoring computer science in at Harvey Mudd University said that people throughout the world know that Falun Dafa is good. All incidents of violence against Falun Gong practitioners were found out later to be related with local Chinese Embassies or Consulates. Therefore, it is not hard to surmise that the shooting incident must have something to do with the Chinese government officials visiting South Africa.

When asking about his purpose of coming to the Chinese Consulate, Matt said that as a person believing in the principle of "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance", he has the responsibility to expose the genocide taking place in China to the public. He said that we have the responsibility to expose the fact that the Chinese government has extended its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners to other countries. People will eventually see it clearly that the suppression of Falun Gong is not only an issue of China, but the persecution has affected the entire world.

Falun Gong practitioners called upon governments of all countries, media and people to pay attention to this incident aiming at suppressing Falun Gong practitioners and to condemn China's spreading of state-sanctioned terrorism.