France: Parades in Paris Urging Eutelsat to Resume NTDTV's Broadcast to China

The European Divine Land Marching Band is composed of over one hundred Falun Gong practitioners. As it marched through Paris' business district, many people accepted Falun Gong flyers and information about the Eutelsat Satellite Company’s disconnection of New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV)'s signal to China.

On September 27th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners from various European countries rallied in Paris to hold a grand parade calling for an end to the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong and to raise awareness of Eutelsat’s disconnection of NTDTV’s broadcast to China. Some practitioners distributed leaflets to passers-by along the way. Many spectators were tourists from China. Among them, 14 people denounced the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organisations on the spot.

When interviewed, chairman of the French Falun Gong Association Tang Hanlong, said, “The primary objectives of this activity are to widely explain the facts about Falun Gong to society, make more people aware of Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, and raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong, which includes Eutelsat’s bowing to the Chinese regime’s pressure and disconnecting NTDTV’s signal to China, etc. In addition, we are widely disseminating the message that over 43 million Chinese people have quit the CCP and its affiliated organisations to society. We hope that we are able to get these messages across to French people and the media.”

Departing from the square at the Paris Stock Exchange, the procession wound its way from Centre Georges Pompidou to the City Hall Square, where they had a rally addressed by representatives from the French Falun Gong Association, The German International Human Right Organisation, the Vice-Chairman of the French Branch of the China Democracy Party, democracy activist Ren Wanting, etc.

Representative of the German International Human Right Organisation Wu Manyang said, “As the largest human right organisation, the German International Human Right Organisation has monitored China’s human right situation in the past decades. We have a lot of evidence to prove China’s despicable human rights record. China has become the biggest human right abuser in the world after the CCP took power. To maintain its power, it has persecuted various groups. Once a group is regarded by the regime as the one that is not willing to serve the CCP or against the CCP, it will be subject to persecution. To carry out its persecution, the CCP has spared no effort to block information about the real situation of China from the Chinese people. Deceived by the CCP’s lies, some Chinese people have misunderstood that it is something good to help the regime persecute Falun Gong practitioners and suppress democracy activists as well as Tibetan Buddhists. In fact, they have become CCP accomplices in the atrocity.”

Representative of the German International Human Right Organisation Wu Manyang addresses the rally.
“NTDTV broadcasting the truth to people in China is saving them from being deceived by the CCP. The French based Eutelsat Satellite Company bowed to the Chinese regime’s pressure and unreasonably terminated NTDTV’s signal to China for business and political reasons. Therefore, we hope the management of Eutelsat is able to realise that what they have done is blocking others from spreading the truth to the Chinese people, and that it will prevent tens of millions of the Chinese people from knowing the truth and undermine their interest, ” Mr. Wu added.

At the rally, the Vice-Chairman of the French Branch of the China Democracy Party Jiang Youlu said what the Chinese regime feared most was its people’s knowing the truth, as what the CCP counts on to rule China are that it always has its people live in terror on one hand and on the other it always covers up the truth with lies.

Jiang pointed out that what NTDTV is doing is simply to let the Chinese people know the truth. Since it is what the Chinese regime fears most, it thus suppresses NTDTV. He thought that Eutelsat’s support for the Chinese regime’s autocratic rule is a shame. He thus called on the French people to support NTDTV and to ask Eutelsat to resume NTDTV’s signal to China.

Well known Tiananmen Square pro-democracy activist Zhang Jian told our reporter, “The Chinese regime tried to eliminate this cultivation group through spiritual, economical and physical means. However, not only did it not succeed, but Falun Gong is stronger and stronger. NTDTV’s continuously reporting the truth is indeed a pain in the neck for the CCP, as it is what it fears most. NTDTV is restoring history by exposing the truth to the people and during the process; it evaluates non-mainstream and non-governmental activities with high moral standards. As a result, the regime tries its level best to oppress the only overseas independent television. The Chinese regime has exerted tremendous pressure on Eutelsat through the French government, including financial and political pressure as well as business intimidation.

A Falun Gong practitioner from China Ms. Cheng said, “I was brought up in China, so I fully understand the situation there. It is very hard for the Chinese people to know the truth, such as the facts of the persecution against Falun Gong and other rights defending advocates including Gao Zhicheng, Hu Jia. As an independent TV station, NTDTV can let people watch truly impartial and independent information. Therefore, NTDTV is very popular in China and it had become one of the main sources for the Chinese people to access impartial information from overseas.”

Ms. Cheng also expressed that the Eutelsat incident has occurred several months ago, but due to the Chinese Communist regime’s pressure, it has not resumed NTDTV’s signal to China. She therefore took this opportunity to call on Eutelsat to continue NTDTV’s broadcasting into China as soon as possible.