CHINA: FOLLOWERS OF OUTLAWED FALUN GONG SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT APPEAL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP AT A NEWS CONFERENCE
Record ID:
838359
CHINA: FOLLOWERS OF OUTLAWED FALUN GONG SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT APPEAL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP AT A NEWS CONFERENCE
- Title: CHINA: FOLLOWERS OF OUTLAWED FALUN GONG SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT APPEAL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP AT A NEWS CONFERENCE
- Date: 30th October 1999
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (OCTOBER 28, 1999) (REUTERS) 1. MV DOZENS OF FALUN GONG MEMBERS PRACTISING MEDITATION IN SECRET LOCATION (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. MV PEOPLE MEDITATING, EXERCISING 0.18 3. SCU YOUNG WOMAN CONCENTRATING ON EXERCISES 0.24 4. CU POSTER SHOWING YIN YANG SYMBOLS AROUND A BUDDHIST SYMBOL IN SHAPE OF A REVERSE SWASTIKA 0.27 5. MV PEOPLE HANGING BANNER ON WALL, LINE OF FALUN GONG MEMBERS HOLDING PORTRAIT OF LEADER LI HONGZHI, AS WELL AS RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS 0.30 6. SCU QU YUYAN, ELEVEN YEARS OLD BOY, HOLDING PORTRAIT OF EXILED LEADER LI HONGZHI 0.36 7. CU PORTRAIT OF LI HONGZHI, SITTING IN LOTUS POSITION AND MEDITATING 0.41 8. SCU BOY'S FACE, HALF HIDDEN BY PORTRAIT 0.44 9. MV FALUN GONG MEMBERS ATTENDING SECRET NEWS BRIEFING (2 SHOTS) 0.55 10. MV DING YAN, THIRTY ONE, SHOWING HOW POLICE PULLED HER ARMS BEHIND HER BACK AND HANDCUFFED HER IN A PAINFUL POSITION 0.58 11. SCU DING YAN'S HANDS BEHIND HER BACK 1.02 12. MV FALUN GONG MEMBERS IN AUDIENCE LISTENING 1.08 13. (SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) DING YAN, THIRTY ONE, HAIRDRESSER SHIJIAZHUANG SAYING "They handcuffed me like this, and then they pushed me on the floor and they stomped on me, this way, that way, they were torturing me, they kicked and hit me in the face." 1.23 14. SCU BRUISES ON DING'S WRISTS 1.31 15. MV/SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) JIANG CHAOHUI, FORMER ASSISTANT MANAGER AT FOREIGN JOINT-VENTURE IN EASTERN CITY OF FUZHOU SAYING "We don't interfere with the country's politics, we don't oppose the government; we all try to be good citizens, so we learn the Way of Falun Gong and practice meditation exercises, to try to become better people, we don't ask for much, we just hope to have a peaceful environment to practice Falun Gong. We feel angry that authorities have labelled us a cult, when Falun Gong is actually a good meditation exercise." 16. MV AUDIENCE LISTENING (2 SHOTS) 2.05 17. MV MEMBERS LISTENING (2 SHOTS) 2.14 17. (SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) WANG ZHIGUO, FORMER POLICEMAN SAYING: "I'm a party member, a communist party member, so I have to "seek truth from facts", I have to tell the truth, I also practice meditation, I should all the more tell the truth, so I hope that... 2.47 18. MV FALUN GONG MEMBERS BOWING IN FRONT OF PORTRAIT OF EXILED LEADER LI HONGZHI 2.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 14th November 1999 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics:
- Reuters ID: LVADF0YFS24L4QDYOTW8GXK0M3PZ
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Followers of China's outlawed Falun Gong spiritual
movement have appealed for international help at a news
conference held in a secret location, saying they
are being persecuted.
Adherents of China's oulawed Falun Gong spiritual
movement stepped up their defiance of a harsh
government crackdown on Thursday (October 28) by appealing for
international help, saying they were being persecuted.
Almost 30 Falun Gong practitioners invited foreign
journalists to a clandestinely arranged news conference
in suburban Beijing, itself an extraordinary act of defiance
in Communist-ruled China.
Dozens of Falun Gong practitioners came forward, telling
stories of persecution and police brutality.
They included eleven-year-old Qu Yuyan,who said he had
been thrown out of school in the northeastern province of
Heilongjiang because he refused to stop practising Falun Gong
a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation and breathing
exercises.
"The teacher will not let me go to school," Qu said as he
held a picture of U.S.-based sect founder Li Hongzhi in safron
robes and sitting in the lotus position.
Followers told different stories of one nature, persecution.
Ding Yan, a 31-year-old hairdresser from Shijiazhuang,
capital of the northern province of Hebei, gave a graphic
description of how she sustained welts on her wrists.
She said they were caused by police handcuffing her with
one wrist behind her neck and the other thrust up
behind her back after she was detained when attending a flag
raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in October.
"They handcuffed me like this, and then they pushed me on
the floor and they stomped on me, this way, that
way, they were torturing me, they kicked and hit me in the
face," she said.
She showed severe bruises on her wrists, saying she had
lost feeling in several fingers.
Falun Gong members alleged "almost 10" adherents had died
in police custody.Police have acknowledged only one such
death, of a young woman they said leapt from a moving train
to commit suicide.
China branded Falun Gong a cult for the first time on
Thursday, setting the stage for an even harsher crackdown
on the movement outlawed in July, accused of challenging the
Communist Party's monopoly on power.
Beijing has denied persecuting practitioners, saying China
is a country ruled by law.But it says the movement
"seduces, brainwashes and blackmails".
Jiang Chaohui, a former assistant manager at a foreign
venture in the southeastern city of Fuzhou, said
persecution of Falun Gong practitioners was escalating.
He called on governments and human rights groups for help
and defended the group's philosophy and practices.
"We don't interfere with the country's politics, we don't
oppose the government; we all try to be good citizens, so we
learn the Way of Falungong and practice meditation exercises,
to try to become better people, we don't ask for much, we just
hope to have a peaceful environment to practice Falungong.We
feel angry that authorities have labelled us a cult, when
Falun Gong is actually a good meditation exercise.
Wang Zhiguo, a 37-year-old policeman from Anshan in the
northeastern province of Liaoning, said he chose Falun Gong
over the Communist Party, of which he is a member.
"I'm a party member, a communist party member, so I have to
"seek truth from facts", I have to tell the
truth, I also practice meditation, I should all the more tell
the truth, so I hope that people all over the world
will give us all the help they can, and world media will give
us objective coverage.
Adherents deny Falun Gong is a cult and insist the
group, which claims 100 million members, is a threat to the
Communist Party, which boast a membership of 60 million.The
government says the the movement has about
two million members.
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