The Vancouver Falun Dafa Association held a press conference on the morning of December 1st, 2010, announcing its formal submission of an application to the city government to rebuild the protest billboards and hut in front of the Chinese Consulate. Local media attended the press conference.
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| Vancouver Falun Dafa Association spokesperson Ms. Zhang Su at the press conference |
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| Lawyer Mr. Clive Ansley answers reporters' questions at the press conference |
On October 19th, 2010, the British Columbia Court of Appeals struck down the city bylaw that prohibited Falun Gong practitioners from placing their protest billboards and hut in front of the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver, and ruled it to be unconstitutional and against the practitioners' right of free speech.
Ms. Zhang Su, Vancouver Falun Dafa Association spokesperson, announced the association's formal submission of application to the city government to rebuild the protest billboards and hut to their previous scale in front of the Chinese Consulate for the association's 24/7 protest against the persecution of Falun Gong.. Ms. Zhang said the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) persecution was escalating, causing the torture of thousands and thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who pursue Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. In the city of Guangzhou, incomplete statistics showed that 42 Falun Gong practitioners had been illegally taken to forced labour camps and brainwashing centres this year. Ms. Tan Kaiqing, a Falun Gong practitioner in Guangzhou and aunt of a Vancouver resident, was taken away from her home on November 7th of this year and thrown into a brainwashing center. Her family wasn't allowed to visit her. Her 80-year-old mother had no one to take care of her. Another Vancouver resident's sister was taken away by police on August 26 of this year and thrown into Chatou Women's Labour Camp.
Ms. Zhang Su said that Falun Gong practitioners had been protesting against the persecution in front of the Chinese Consulate since 2001. Unfortunately, many Canadians still haven't learned about the atrocities committed by the CCP, including live organ harvesting. In the meantime, the CCP has continued to spread lies and cover up its crimes. Practitioners must continue the protest, help more people know about the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, and call for more people to join the effort to end the persecution. Even though the CCP's regime had hired thugs to harass, assault, and send death threats to Canadian Falun Gong practitioners, they refuse to be intimidated. As long as the persecution continues, so will the protests.
Lawyer Mr. Clive Ansley was interviewed by the reporters. He said that the application shouldn't run into obstacles. The city government and its lawyer had said they weren't against the content of the billboards or the protest. The problem was purely technical, as the structure was against the city's bylaws. However, the British Columbia Court of Appeals has now ruled that it is unconstitutional for the city bylaws to prohibit practitioners from expressing their opinions with such structures.
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