According to world media, over 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and beaten in Tiananmen Square at the beginning of October. Uniformed and plainclothes police kicked and pummeled Falun Gong Practitioners, who were trying to clarify the facts by displaying banners of "Falun Gong is righteous" or "Falun Gong is not a crime" to the public in the Square.

In July 1999, President Jiang Zemin began the crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners. Since then, according to world media and human rights groups:

• Over 50,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested

• At lease 10,000 have been sent to labor camps without trial

• 600 persons have been forced to mental hospitals and abused with anti-psychotic or sedative drugs and electric shocks

• 59 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death in police custody.

• Millions of Falun Gong books, videotapes, and audiotapes have been confiscated and burned.

• Over 500 show trials have been conducted without the right to legal representation, leading to sentences of up to 18 years in prison.

Outside China, the regime has carried out a major campaign of misinformation, harassment and intimidation using all the reasons at its disposal. Practitioners in Europe have had e-mail address and web sites destroyed; phone lines tapped, received threatening telephone calls; and Falun Gong classes have been infiltrated by the Chinese regime's agents. This amounts to serious intimidation of European citizens.

Falun Gong is a peaceful practice of gentle exercises and meditation for stress relief and overall mental, physical and spiritual health. Practitioners live by the moral standards of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. It is popular throughout Europe with classes in most European cities and literature translated into major European languages.

We, Members of the European Parliament, urge President Jiang Zemin to:

• Stop his continued persecution of Falun Gong

• Release all imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners

• Withdraw the arrest warrant for Mr. Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Gong)

• Engage in a dialogue with Falun Gong practitioners to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis

• Respect basic human rights and fundamental freedoms

• Stop the harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in Europe and other parts of the world

Signed by the following Members of the European Parliament:

Cecilia Malmstrom

Struan Stevenson

Lousewies van der Laan

Elizabeth Lynne

Paula Casaca

Graham Watson

Eliy Ploij-van Gorsel

Willa Sandback

Bertel Haarder

Anna Karamanou

Chris Davies

Heidi Hautala

Mauricio Turco

Olivier Dupuis

Marit Paulsen

Olle Schmidt

John Walls Cushnahan

Annell Hulthen

Hanja Maij-Weggen

The Lord Betheil

Lennart Sacredeus

Gary Titley

Anders Wijkman

Hella Thorning-Schmidt

Pere Esteve

Niall Andrews