August 19, 2002
Goettingen
Around sixty followers of the Chinese system of Falun Gong demonstrated Saturday afternoon along the pedestrian zone.
They denounced the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the People’s Republic of China by displaying banners and handing out flyers. Falun Gong, according to testimony from its members, is a traditional teaching based on Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. This system has been outlawed in China since 1999.
“Over 1,000 people who believe in this system have been tortured to death,” declared Mrs. Waltraud Ng, leading member of the German Falun Gong Association, during a press conference at Jacobi-Church Square. Guest speaker, Mr. Tillman Schmalzried from Amnesty International criticized the “frightening damage done to human rights in China.” Other groups who participated in this event were members of the Green Party, the Gesellschaft fuer bedrohte Voelker (Association for Threatened Peoples) and also members of Lutheran Congregations. They all showed solidarity with Falun Gong. A member of the Green Party, Mr. Helmhard Ungerer, said, “We must not tolerate the political hunting of a peaceful group.”
Mr. Ulrich Delius of the GfBV pointed out that Falun Gong followers abroad, and no longer only in China, have already been hit with demonstration bans and travel restrictions. A case in point is the government of Iceland. During an official Chinese state visit in June of this year, Iceland banned Falun Gong members from entering the country. In Germany, during Jiang Zemin’s state visit recently, Falun Gong members were kept out of view of the visiting president. “Germany must not remain silent,” said Mr. Delius. [..]
Goettingen, August 18, 2002
(Original text in German)
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