H.E. Mr. Michel Filhol
Ambassador of France
The French Embassy
101-103 Cluny Park Road
Singapore 259595
Dear Mr Ambassador
DETAINED IN PARIS FOR WEARING YELLOW?
We are writing to you to report an incident that happened in Paris last week.
On 24 January 2004, more than a dozen people were arrested in Paris for wearing yellow sweaters or scarfs that bore the words "Falun Gong" or "Falun Dafa". Among them were Dr. Viviana Galli and Dr. Sunny Lu, psychiatrists and American citizens, who were in Paris to watch the Chinese New Year parade where several thousands of Chinese people from mainland China participated. The police told them they arrested them because "Yellow was illegal in France". Their passports were taken away and they were detained from 1:30 to almost 5:00 PM in a police van before they were taken to a police station.
This incident brings to memory a similar happening in Germany in April 2002 when German police forbade and arrested anyone found wearing yellow or blue under Chinese diplomatic pressure because Jiang Zemin was then visiting. Yellow and blue are two colors that Jiang associates with Falun Gong and he is the chief perpetrator of the ongoing persecution and torture of Falun Gong civilians in China.
Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that improves health and moral character. It originated in China in 1992, flourished worldwide in more than 70 countries with practitioners numbering more than 100 million, but banned in China in July 1999 by Jiang Zemin due to its rapid popularity. To legitimize the persecution, Jiang fabricated and brainwashed the nation with lies and scourges about Falun Gong through the state media CCTV. Since then, practitioners worldwide try to unveil the truth to Chinese people who traveled abroad. We believe practitioners in Paris were merely disclosing the truth of Falun Gong to Chinese people though such non-violent means as wearing a yellow sweater or scarf with the words "Falun Gong".
Despite worldwide support, appeals, and condemnation by many countries and human rights organizations, the persecution has persisted for four and a half years. This is not merely a Falun Gong issue or a China issue. It has become a major humanitarian crisis as it involves the lives of the 100 million practitioners in China and their families. It is about upholding the fundamental principles espoused in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture. It is therefore an issue of global concern to all human beings of conscience.
We trust that your government will understand the truth of the matter and stand firm on humanitarian grounds in resisting any diplomatic maneuvers in your country that attempt to legitimize or prolong Jiang's persecution of 100 million innocent civilians.
We would be most pleased and honored to meet with you if this would give us the opportunity to provide more background information to you.
Sincerely
William Huang, Ph.D.
President, Falun Dafa Association of Singapore
Category: Perspective
