On 28 October 2001, about 50 UK Falun Gong practitioners from around the United Kingdom gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy to appeal to the visiting Chinese Vice President, Mr. Hu Jintao, to personally call for the fair treatment of Falun Gong in China, to dismiss the 6.10 Office and bring Luo Gan to justice. Mr. Hu was visiting London on 28-30 October and Edinburgh [Scotland] on 31 October - 1 November.
Practitioners in the UK also took this opportunity to expose the severe persecution of Falun Gong in China to the UK government, media, business community, and the academic community to urge them to help protect the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners in China as well as in the UK and other European countries. In particular two cases were highlighted to the political, business and academic leaders: that of Dublin student Zhao Ming, who was sent to a labour camp without trial and who has been severely tortured, and that of Alfredo Fava-Minor, who was refused access to his company and properties in China because of his peaceful human rights activities in Italy. The plight of UK practitioners affected by the persecution was also presented to the relevant organizations.
Practitioners set up banners across the street from the Chinese Embassy stating the practitioners' requests. They also practiced the gentle exercises of Falun Gong as well as sending forth righteous thoughts. A practitioner said that as soon as he arrived at the scene, he felt that it was a very righteous field and he felt that practitioners were like divine beings guarding the Fa. The Chinese Embassy hired some people to play loud drums and percussion musical instruments in an attempt to get Mr. Hu not to notice the protestors, which also included other groups.
Under this special situation, to ensure that our message got through to Mr. Hu, practitioners used a loud speaker to read out the words on our banners. Many important guests and delegation members entering the Embassy paid much attention to our messages, and some stood still to read our banners for extended periods of time. The compassionate righteous field formed by our practitioners moved many people. One Tibetan protester immediately joined our practitioners in doing the exercises. Several media organizations arrived to cover the event and a UK Falun Gong spokesperson was interviewed on camera by two separate television crews.
The Falun Gong Association (UK) also issued an open letter to Mr. Hu, highlighting the serious nature of the persecution and setting out our requests
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Reported from the UK
30 October 2001
Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/1559.html
Category: Rallies & Protests
