(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners and many others in Paris are objecting to the Chinese government's extending the persecution [of Falun Gong] and those with different beliefs to France during the Spring Festival celebrations. Below is a summary of events as reported by Radio Free Asia reporter Tian Yi on January 16.
As city authorities in Paris invited the Beijing government to assist in holding the celebrations this year, it appeared that an inharmonious atmosphere arose from the applications of various groups that were to participate. For this reason, this reporter interviewed Mr. Zhang Jianping, a spokesman for the European Falun Gong Information Centre in Paris.
Mr. Zhang Jianping said, "The Paris city authority organized a Chinese New Year parade for Chinese residents on Avenue des Champs Elysees. It is a public and Chinese-culture-related activity. Falun Gong is a group legally registered in France and has the right to participate. We then made an application. However, the application was illegally interfered with by the Chinese Embassy. Their only excuse was illegal suppression by the Chinese government."
In particular, Mr. Zhang Jiangping highlighted, "Why do we have the right to participate in this parade? It is because in western societies, anyone or any group should not be discriminated against because of their belief, point of view, race or religion. Originally a cultural matter, the Chinese Embassy made it a political matter via diplomatic methods. It is absolutely not acceptable for the Chinese Embassy to extend such a persecution to a western democratic society.
In response, Falun Gong took action to protect their interests. Mr. Zhang Jiangping said, "Now we have active contact with various channels, including human rights groups, political circles in France, the police departments in Paris, and the city authorities in Paris. France, in particular, is a country that highly advocates human rights. It might even be said that France is where human rights were born. So we must stick to our beliefs; we cannot yield under great pressure from a dictatorship."
At the same time, they also are organizing a large-scale activity to respond to the Beijing government. "We have also invited Falun Gong practitioners from various countries to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the Chinese people. We expect that there will be several hundreds or even thousands of Falun Gong practitioners coming here. We also have applied for a series of activities for this.
In addition, to the reporter's understanding, the action taken by Falun Gong practitioners has gained support from many other Chinese groups and some human rights groups in France. We are also preparing to hold a large-scale press conference in Paris.