New York Rally to End Violence Against Falun Gong

CHAN: And now we have an update on the situation in Flushing where practitioners of the Falun Gong religious group have been facing violent attacks for the past two weeks. Our own Kaman Pun was at a Falun Gong rally this weekend. Here』s more. STORY: [Kaman Pun, NTD Reporter]: 」I am at a rally in Flushing, New York. The purpose of this rally is to stop the violence sponsored by the Chinese Consulate and support the 37 million Chinese people quitting the Chinese Communist Party.」 Over the past two weeks, Chinese people have attacked Falun Gong practitioners at a booth in Flushing. The practitioners have been gathering in Flushing for years and the recent attacks surprised many. [Mela, Falun Gong Practitioner]: 」And then I saw people gathering around us. And they started to shout things like eradicate Falun Gong, beat down Falun Gong.』 And they threw eggs at us and they became very violent.」 At the rally, more than a thousand Falun Gong practitioners held banners and signs. Invited guests also made speeches. Yang Sen is a representative of Falun Gong. [Yang Sen, Falun Gong Representative]: 」I don』t know why they come here, but they beat people, they curse people. But it』s a crime in US; you cannot just beat anyone on the streets. Especially you cannot beat anyone with religion, if you beat someone or hurt someone due to their religion. That is a hate crime.」 The focus of the attacks has been the Quit the CCP Center where Falun Gong practitioners volunteer and encourage people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The director believes the Chinese consulate played a role in the attacks. [Yi Rong, Director of the Quit CCP Centre]: 」Falun Gong practitioners have been attacked by a large crowd of people, the CCP is definitely behind [this] for about two weeks, continuous attacks for about two weeks.」 Last week, NTD obtained an interview with New York』s Chinese consul general, where he admitted that he was directly involved in organizing the attacks. Yi Rong added that she believes the attacks are intended to divert the attention away of the recent crises in Mainland China, and to stir up patriotism ahead of the Olympics in August. [Kaman Pun, NTD Reporter]: 」Why did they attack the Falun Gong practitioners?」 [Yi Rong, Director of the Quit CCP Centre]: 」There is a heavy, very serious domestic crisis so the CCP government has definitely selected Falun Gong as a target to transfer this attention and domestic crisis to Falun Gong practitioners overseas.」 Yi Rong added that they are not intimidated by the recent attacks and will continue their activities. We』ll continue to cover this story as it develops. This is Kaman Pun, NTD, New York. 其他推薦: 2008新唐人電視台全球系列大賽(小提琴,聲樂,舞蹈,武術,鋼琴,漢服設計,油畫,廚技,攝影) http://competitions.ntdtv.com/ 退出共產黨(首頁) http://tuidang.epochtimes.com/ 海內外中國人支持7‧1全球退黨日 http://www.cntv.us/zh/view/7932