"Rescue Our Friend Charles Li" Signature Collecting Walk

On February 9 2003, the San Francisco bay area "Friends of Charles Li" once again held a press conference at San Francisco Garden Corner to make more effort to rescue Charles Li and appeal to people from all walks of life to give more attention and understand Jiang’s suppression of Falun Gong over the past three years. They appealed to good people to uphold justice and extend their helping hands to get Charles released.

At the press conference, Charles' friends from different professions in the Bay area narrated through their personal experiences the maltreatment Falun Gong practitioners suffer in China, without exception, even westerners. They expressed their worries regarding Charles' arrest. The people in attendance felt the preciousness of freedom of belief, as well as the importance of basic human rights. Rescuing Charles is not merely to rescue one American citizen, but to make a stand that people's guaranteed freedoms will not be infringed.

After the press conference, a signature-collecting walk proposed by "Friends of Charles Li" got underway. The procession moved toward Union Square. The banner "Rescue Charles" gained the attention of many passers-by. Many people expressed that they had heard the news and felt that Charles should be immediately released.

The signature collecting walks will be held in various cities throughout the Bay area.