Australia: Protest at Chinese Consulate in Melbourne Targets Mass Arrests of Falun Gong Practitioners Before Olympics

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not kept its promise to improve human rights in China in exchange for being allowed to host the 2008 Olympics. On the contrary, it has accelerated the persecution against Falun Gong. Consequently, on August 1st, Falun Gong practitioners from Melbourne, Australia, held a protest in front of the Chinese Consulate.

According to a report on the Minghui website of July 27th, 2008, 8037 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in China from December 2007 to June 30th, 2008. Many practitioners were tortured to death or badly injured. In July 2008, the rate of arrests increased. At this time, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are being held in prisons, forced labour camps, detention centres and mental hospitals. The persecution against Falun Gong has become a total human rights disaster. To make matters even worse, the Police Department and Social Security Office in Beijing announced on July 10th, 2008, that people who report on potential threats to the Olympics will be rewarded up to 500 thousand yuan, and Falun Gong was the only group named in that announcement.

A spokesman for the Falun Dafa Association in Victoria exposed the fact that the CCP tries to control the Internet in order to cover up its ugly human rights record. He encouraged reporters who are going to the Olympics to investigate the CCP's human rights issues and the persecution against Falun Gong.

Falun Gong practitioners held banners in front of the Chinese Consulate. The consulate called the police for "protection," and the police came five minutes later. They smiled at practitioners and told them that they could continue their protest because that was their right.