Sunday, January 13, 2002 Calgary Falun Gong practitioners say they will continue to demonstrate daily to raise awareness about human rights abuses in China.

Roughly 20 practitioners of the meditative, rhythmic stretching practice demonstrated outside Calgary's Consulate General of the People's Republic of China on 6th Avenue S.W. Saturday as part of a worldwide protest against the [persecution by the] Chinese government.

The practice is outlawed in China and practitioners say 338 people have been killed due to police brutality while in custody. At least 100,000 have been detained, while 20,000 have been sent to forced labour camps, they say.

Eight recent deaths in the last three days prompted the Saturday protests, which also took place in Toronto, Ottawa and other major cities.

"We just keep coming back to try to raise awareness and try to get the abuse to stop," said Ian Oliver, a Calgary man who has practised Falun Gong for two years.

"We want to let people of the world know what is truly going on. The Chinese government will tell you a whole series of things that are not true about this practice but what we practise is based on the characteristics of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance."

Oliver is one of 20 Calgary residents who practise Falun Gong outside the consulate daily between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m.

Practitioners say Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is an ancient form of Qigong, the practice of refining the body and mind through physical exercises and meditation.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin outlawed Falun Gong and began the persecution of practitioners in July 1999.

Nancy Sun, 27, came to Calgary one month ago from Toronto. Prior to that, she lived in China, where she was arrested for practising Falun Gong.

Sun was released from three days in custody after her mother posted $8,000 bail. But she and her family were terrorized by police, she said.

She moved because of the threats.

"We hope by being here today we can let people know what is happening. We want the Canadian government to know," she said.

[...] Calgary West Canadian Alliance MP Rob Anders said he supports the Falun Gong community and has recently written to the federal government asking it to consider withdrawing from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Anders has long been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government.

"The (Falun Gong) practitioners are getting support from all corners of the world from people who are outraged at what's happening to their fellow practitioners in China," Anders said.

"And for those who practise and are fortunate enough to live outside of China, they are lucky to be in cultures where they can go ahead and protest the lack of freedom in China and draw attention to the suffering of their family or friends back home."

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