By Yan Ge

Over 40 Western Falun Gong practitioners were arrested for holding a peaceful appeal in Tiananmen Square on February 14. Xinhua News Agency immediately published a venomous article, accusing the Western practitioners of "ruining the happy atmosphere of Chinese New Year."

During the past two-and-a-half years, at least 365 Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to death in China. Tens of thousands were illegally detained in forced labour camps and prisons, while countless more were forced into homelessness. Here I would like to ask, "Do these practitioners and their families get to enjoy the 'happy atmosphere?' Is the 'happy atmosphere' more important than people's lives and welfare?" The Western practitioners peacefully expressed their faith and exercised their freedom of speech in Tiananmen Square. They called for help for the victims, yet the police viciously pinned them down, beat and kicked them. Who is it really that's ruining the "happy atmosphere?" At the inauguration ceremony of President Bush, 20,000 people went to protest, should they have been accused of ruining the "happy atmosphere" and beaten?

Xinhua might also claim that the Western practitioners violated Chinese laws. The Constitution of China guarantees its citizens' freedom of faith, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. The Chinese government has also signed the International Human Rights Pact. Therefore, the Western practitioners were only using their internationally recognized rights. Furthermore, their actions were so peaceful; how could they have violated any laws? On the other hand, after the suppression began, the rulers in China ordained many new "laws" aimed at persecuting Falun Gong, all of which violated the Constitution. Such trampling of the Constitution is the real crime. Falun Gong practitioners went to the Appeals Bureau to appeal and are immediately arrested and sent to police departments. What kind of law is this? The police and government officials can beat the practitioners to death. What kind of law is this? About the "demonstration law" in China, it actually is not at all law that ensures freedom of speech.
Instead, it prohibits appeal, rendering the freedom of speech meaningless. The true nature of it is that only the government is allowed to do whatever it wants to, and the people are not allowed to appeal. Murder is not a crime, but appealing is.

At the end of a dynasty, the dictators always put on a show of great peace while mobilizing malicious government officials to treat people brutally. Isn't today's China behaving this way?