February 14, 2002

"I fully support the protest action wherein Matthias participated, but of course I am scared." On Valentine's Day 2002 the heart of Janniek De Clercq beats faster than ever for her husband Matthias Slaats. He was arrested yesterday when he protested, together with about 40 other foreigners against the persecution of Falun Gong in China. "Hopefully he will be repatriated soon; I'm waiting for him"

Matthias Slaats (29) lives in Ghent and is a project manager in a software company. In the beginning of the year 2000 he got interested in the meditation method Falun Gong or Falun Dafa. "He came to know the book Zhuan Falun through a website that was mentioned in a news article about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Matthias studied the teachings of Falun Dafa more and more in depth and tried to apply the principles of the practice in his daily life. Since about half a year I am a practitioner myself, and I study together with him", says Janniek De Clercq.

Tortures

Slaats and the other Western Falun Gong practitioners made the plan to go to Beijing to protest peacefully in against the continuing persecution of their Chinese fellows. "Since the crackdown on Falun Gong, several hundreds got arrested, tortured and killed in their cells. We want to show them our support, and that they have friends in the whole world. That's why about a hundred practitioners planned to protest on the famous Tiananmen Square", testifies Nicolas Schols, chairman of the Belgian Falun Gong Association.

In the end only about 40 protesters made it to Beijing. Together with tens of others, Schols tried to obtain a visa for China, but for unclear reasons he did not obtain it. Schols: "Probably I am blacklisted as a well-known Falun Gong practitioner. Others were arrested in their hotel rooms some days before the protests. Four British practitioners had already be repatriated. But those who remained have unfurled banners on a set time and yelled words in favor of Falun Gong. This is the biggest protest foreign Falun Gong practitioners ever held in China. We learned from the internet that the Chinese police quickly intervened. It is said that among the arrested are also German, American and Canadian Falun Gong practitioners, as well as several journalists."

Bush

[...]

For Janniek De Clercq it is waiting in anxiety. "I support Matthias for one hundred percent, but it is very tense. According to our information the protesters were treated brutally and violently although they held a peaceful demonstration. Foreigners already protested one time in Beijing last year in November and they were expelled from the country after two days. At that time somebody's nose was broken and a few ribs were injured. I am afraid that the treatment will not be better now. Probably Beijing will want to make an example of them."

The Belgian embassy tries to get extra information, but that seemed to be difficult yesterday. "Monday he travelled to China. Wednesday was the last time I had contact with him. I hoped that he would have been able to keep his mobile phone, like with the demonstration in November, but it didn't succeed this time. I hope that the forthcoming visit of the American president Bush to the Chinese capital will have a positive influence," says De Clercq.