New York City: Anti-Torture Exhibition Moves People's Heart

On August the 14th and 15th, Falun Gong practitioners held an anti-torture exhibition at a busy intersection on Broadway in downtown New York City. The exhibition attracted attention from the tens of thousands of people passing by. People stopped to watch the live torture re-enactment and condemned the persecution.


Live torture re-enactment

A hundred million Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to persecution in China for five years. The suppression is still going on. However, there are still many people in the world who are not aware of this. When people personally saw an elderly person who was bleeding and was tied and hung in a cage, they burst out condemnation against the persecutors.

The demonstrated methods of torture used against Falun Gong practitioners in China included: a police officer force-feeding a bleeding woman who was tightly tied-up, an elderly person who was bound up in a small cage, and a police officer who was digging bamboo sticks under a practitioner's fingernails. Posters illustrating the torture methods were also set up by the side. People were shocked at the horrible scene. Many people asked: "Are these truly happening? Where does it occur? Why are they persecuted?" People could not believe that there is still such brutal persecution in today's world and the persecuted are a group of kind people who do meditation and practice "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance".

Some people shed tears while reading the descriptions on the posters which introduced the torture suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in China. One after another, people signed the petition condemning Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin and his group's persecution of Falun Gong and calling for an end to the suppression.

Many people have a sense of justice. They could not bear to see the torture. When seeing an elderly gentleman was tied on a "tiger bench" with his clothes stained with blood, two young men respectively came over to untie the rope disregarding the "vicious police officer" standing by his side. They asked, "Who is bullying you? How could they do such a thing!"

A lady told us that after she saw the exhibition yesterday, she sent emails to her friends and told them the persecution subjected towards those who practice Falun Gong in China. A president of an NGO to protect Tibetan culture and spiritual heritage signed the petition and expressed his willingness to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong. A lady signed the petition while praying that the persecution will end as soon as possible. Many people knew for a long time about Chinese ruling party's suppression of spiritual belief.

A Falun Gong practitioner who played the role of "vicious police officer" said, "It's really horrible to imagine that if I just used some force when I held the electrical baton on the elderly gentleman's neck, he could die. I really want to tell the police officers in China, please don't be hatchet men for Jiang Zemin anymore. People all have conscience. Everyone has his parents, children, wife or husband. Please think about your family and yourself. What goes around comes around."

The elderly gentleman who played the victim tied and hung in a small cell stood there for more than one hour. His son has been imprisoned for more than two years for his practice of Falun Gong. His son has been subjected to many kinds of torture.

The man said, "Indeed, I felt a little tired. My arms, shoulders and legs feel numb. But this is only a demonstration. The real torture in the prison is much more painful. One is unable to squat or stand straight while he is hung in the cell and the torture often lasts for several days even years in a row."

He said, "The U.S. is a democratic country and we are permitted to demonstrate here. In China, most people are not aware of the torture. Only family members and friends of victims have to chance to learn about it. What we demonstrate here is only a tiny part. The purpose of the exhibition is to allow the American people to visualise Jiang Zemin group's suppression of Falun Gong and let them learn about the facts so as to uphold the justice and have people's conscience awakened. Tell more people about the facts and remember that the suppression has been going on for five years and it must not continue! We can not allow the lunatic Jiang's group to kill tens of thousands of good people."

Holding an electric shock baton, Mr. Xia acted as a "police officer". He is 71 years old. One can not tell that he was once a person suffering form illness who took medicine as meals before he started practising Falun Gong. He had suffered from angina pectoris and liver problems. He was unable to walk without a crutch. After he started practising Falun Gong, he became healthy and did not have to go to hospital or take any medicine for six years.

Mr. Xia said, "(Conducting this anti-torture exhibition) is to raise the public awareness that Jiang Zemin group's brutality surpassed all persecutions including those of the fascists in history. Jiang Zemin's purpose is to break people's will. He secretly order the head of 6-10 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.], Luo Gan and others that they could apply any means to transform Falun Gong practitioners (The so-called 'transform' is to use different kinds of means, soft or hard, to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief and give up their rights to tell the truth). Police or jail guards can be rewarded 10,000 yuan if they could transform one practitioner, but will be fined 15,000 yuan if they failed. It turns out that the more brutal one persecutes Falun Gong, the better chance he can obtain to get rich and be promoted, otherwise, one has to face being fired and his entire family will be hard to survive. I hope police officers in China would not be deluded by Jiang's lies. Compassion is human nature and I hope they would not lose it."

Lots of passersby pulled out cameras to take pictures of the display. After seeing the anti-torture exhibition, a photographer returned to his shop to fetch a camera. He later came back to show us the photos he took, which clearly showed the tortures and will allow more people to learn the facts through them. He said that as early as two years ago, he saw Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York. Later, in Paris, he saw more practitioners participating in similar activities.

If all people are aware of how cruel this persecution is, the persecution will definitely be stopped, because Jiang Zemin's group will have no place to hide.

Union Square