Czech Republic: The Parliament and President Pay Attention to Human Rights in China during Wen Jiabao’s Visit

From December the 8th to the 9th 2005, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Premier Wen Jiabao visited the Czech Republic. Falun Gong practitioners held a twenty four-hour protest activity in front of the Chinese Consulate and ordered the CCP to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate	Practitioners being interviewed by reporters

The Czech media cares about Falun Gong’s human rights conditions in China

At noon on December the 8th 2005, Czech television stations "NOVA" and "PRIMA 3” interviewed Falun Gong practitioners about their peaceful protest activity in front of the Chinese Consulate. The practitioners also spoke to several reporters from Czech newspapers.

The television station broadcast TV news four times a day showing Falun Gong’s protest at the Chinese Consulate on the first day of Wen Jiabao’s visit. On Thursday and Friday, they made Falun Gong and the peaceful protest activity as important as the main TV news item and broadcast it as a highlight of the whole news programme.

The parliament and president pay attention to human rights issues in China

On December the 9th 2005, the chairman of two committees of Czech parliament and President Václav Klaus met with Wen Jiabao. During their discussion, they both mentioned the human rights issues in China. Member of Parliament Mr. Zaoralek said in the TV news during an interview with Czech Republic Television that China should not use torture devices to persecute Falun Gong.

The persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party extended to overseas disruption of appeal activities

During the period of the visit by Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Communist Party prepared two busloads of people to welcome him. They used red flags of different sizes to block the banners of Falun Gong in front of the Chinese Consulate. These people even grabbed the Falun Gong banners and broke the wooden poles supporting them. Some of them even physically assaulted Falun Gong practitioners.

These incidents happened near the Czech government authorities (who were waiting for the arrival of the Chinese Delegation), at the Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as the Hilton Hotel where Wen Jiabao was staying. In front of the Hilton Hotel, the “welcome delegation” snatched the biggest banner that had the words “Falun Gong is good” on it and handed it to the Wen Jiabao delegation in the hotel. The manger of the hotel, upon request by Falun Gong practitioners, negotiated with the Chinese delegation to ask for the banner back; in the end the banner was still not returned. A European Falun Gong practitioner exclaimed that if these Chinese people could be so wild overseas, one cannot imagine how they would treat Falun Gong practitioners in China.