United States: Practitioners Hold Rally in Front of Russian Embassy in Washington DC to Call for Russia Not to Assist the CCP in Persecuting Falun Gong

A number of Falun Gong practitioners in Washington DC held a rally in front of the Russian Embassy at 1:00 p.m. on March 26th, 2007. They called upon Russia not to succumb to the CCP's pressure, and immediately release the Falun Gong practitioners detained in Moscow. They displayed banners reading, "Immediately Release Falun Gong Practitioners!" and "Heaven will Eliminate the CCP, Soviet Union Communist Party's Yesterday Will be the CCP's Today."

The coordinator of the rally, Dr. Huang Zhuwei, said that a number of Falun Gong practitioners in Moscow called for an end to the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong upon hearing about the upcoming visit of Hu Jintao, but they were arrested. We thought Russia was unreasonable to accept the CCP's instigation. Russia itself just experienced Communist rule, and should have a deep understanding of the Communist Party's evil nature. How could it assist the evil doing bad deeds?

He said that Falun Gong practitioners have been brutally persecuted for a long time. At the same time, they have endured unnamed tribulations, and appealed to people's sense of justice and conscience. However, the Russian police arrested them. It was really inconceivable. Today, we want to tell the Russian government not to assist the CCP in doing bad deeds. He also introduced to the Russian Embassy staff that about 20 million Chinese people have quit the CCP and its affiliated organisations, and informed them about the celestial phenomenon in which Heaven will eliminate the CCP.

March 26th was the beginning of Hu Jintao's main activities during his visit to Russia.

On the morning of March 24th in Moscow, more than a dozen Falun Gong practitioners peacefully protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in Russia, calling for an end to the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. Beginning at noon, the Russian police, at the behest of the CCP's embassy staff, took some practitioners to the police department in the name of "disturbing the embassy's work" and released them three hours later.

Falun Gong practitioner Alla Khegai, who was on the spot, said that the practitioners' behaviour was peaceful, and they did not disturb others. They arrested practitioners based on the "Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations." Actually, ten to fifteen Chinese plainclothes police officers were seen moving around nearby. They pointed to Falun Gong practitioners and urged the Russian police to arrest them.

On March 25th, 22 more Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in front of the Chinese Embassy. The court summoned them on March 26th. Local Falun Gong practitioners in Russia had submitted an application for a permit with the Russian authorities prior to their activities in front of the Chinese Embassy, but their application was not approved. According to the Russian Falun Gong practitioners, such an activity can only be prohibited by the court, so they felt their activity was legal.