World Journal: Hong Kong Falun Gong Practitioner in America Calls Attention to Injustice

Jimmy Poon is a Falun Gong practitioner from Hong Kong. On July 31, 2002, in front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate, he denounced the Hong Kong police for wrongfully accusing Falun Gong practitioners of assaulting the police, and for using excessive force to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from carrying out their peaceful appeal. San Francisco Bay Area Falun Gong practitioners accompanied Jimmy Poon at the news conference.

Poon stated that on March 14, 12 Hong Kong practitioners and 4 Swiss practitioners appealed peacefully to the Beijing government to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners by sitting in meditation in front of the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong.

Jimmy Poon pointed out, "Shortly after the sit-in meditation began, police requested demonstrators to vacate the area, alleging that they were 'blocking the street.' But, Hong Kong's constitution allows citizens to appeal peacefully. Falun Gong practitioners refused to vacate because they believed the police allegation was without merit."

Poon said, "At this time the police called in reinforcements of another 40 to 50 policemen, and started to forcibly remove practitioners. The Falun Gong practitioners, however, continued with their peaceful meditation with eyes closed."

Based on the video footage taped during the incident by Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners and shown at the news conference, many Falun Gong practitioners were hauled away by the police and put into squad cars. Each practitioner was carried out by four or five policemen. Some practitioners still had their eyes closed and wore serene expressions while being carried away.

One photo distributed by Jimmy Poon showed a female practitioner being dragged away by several policewomen. Jimmy Poon said, "This Falun Gong practitioner was later charged by the police with 'attacking police.'" "As you can clearly see in this photo, she could not move even if she wanted to. Attacking the police was completely out of question."

Poon revealed that the Hong Kong court will hand down a decision in the near future on this case of allegedly assaulting police. He believes that this will be a test of Hong Kong's "One country, two systems."

Other than this specific incident, Jimmy Poon indicated that there had never been any conflict between Hong Kong police and Falun Gong practitioners.

He Guoliang, a spokesperson at the Hong Kong Economic and Trading Office in San Francisco, announced on July 3 that, according to his investigation, since the litigation is still pending and the case is not closed, he could not comment on this incident.