'During the Chinese New Year celebrations over the last weekend in France, 20 Chinese and Western practitioners were arrested, simply because they wore yellow scarves or yellow sweaters with the words of "Falun Gong" or "Zhen Shan Ren" (meaning Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance). The French police told them that they were arrested because “Yellow was illegal in France”. Even people not wearing yellow, but just wearing blue scarves with the words “Falun Dafa” were arrested.'

Chinese president Hu Jintao began a four-day visit to France on January 26, 2004. Some international organisations in Paris hoped the French government leaders would bring up the persecution of Falun Gong during their meeting with Hu Jintao. Falun Gong practitioners welcomed Hu Jintao and at the same time requested that Jiang Zemin, the head of the criminal persecution of Falun Gong, be brought to justice.

Dun Laoghaire student Liu Feng was illegally arrested following his return to China during the 1999 Christmas break because he peacefully appealed against the persecution of Falun Gong. It is said that Liu Feng has been released but is currently in hospital. This only occurs when a labour camp detainee has been tortured or is close to death, and prison authorities intend to shift the blame away from themselves. Because of this, practitioners believe that Liu Feng is in serious danger.

"After coming back to the UK, I still feel shock and regret about what happened in Paris. I am a UK citizen and come from a democratic country, expecting France to be free and democratic as well. What I encountered was a nightmare that I think the French authority should apologise to me for their behaviour and prevent it from ever happening again."

'Four members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have filed a lawsuit in Paris against visiting Chinese Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng. The members said Mr Sun was responsible for "crimes of torture" against the group, which is banned in China.'

'Amnesty International says in a report published today (Wed 28 January 2004) that since November 2002 there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people arrested and imprisoned for expressing their opinions online or for downloading information from the internet in China...Those detained in China include students, political dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, workers, writers, lawyers, teachers, civil servants, former police officers, engineers, and businessmen.'

The brainwashing centre was so brutal it was truly a Hell on earth. The centre's mission is to transform good people into bad people. A Falun Gong Practitioner is considered 'transformed' [having renounced their belief] only when he or she beats or scolds a fellow practitioner or says dirty words. In the beginning, as a way to deceive practitioners into renouncing their belief, they pretend to be friendly by caring for practitioners and being considerate to them.

The factory was on the verge of bankruptcy and was not even able to pay the factory workers' regular salaries. The brainwashing class charged the factory 2000 Yuan per person each month [500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.]. In addition, for every practitioner, the factory was ordered to send another person to guard the practitioner, and each factory guard cost the factory 2000 Yuan each. So a total of 12 people went to the brainwashing centre at a total cost of 24,000 Yuan.

During the detention period, authorities extorted 500 yuan from Li Dan's family. The authorities demanded 1,000 yuan; however, because her family is impoverished, her relatives only gave them 500 yuan. The policemen also threatened Li Dan's baby sister and asked her who had taught Li Dan to practise Falun Gong. Because Li Dan's sister is so young, she told the officers that Dafa practitioner Huang Wenshu had taught Li Dan. The policemen asked the sister to lead them to arrest Huang Wenshu, and Huang Wenshu subsequently was sentenced to two years of forced labour.

With the song "Falun Dafa Is Great," Falun Gong practitioners in bright golden uniforms showed great enthusiasm and high spirits. The Director of the parade said, "As long as Falun Gong practitioners participate in it, I have confidence. The activities that they participate in are sure to succeed."

On January 21, a Canadian multi-cultural TV Station OMNI2 announced the results of a survey during its Chinese program: 63% of participants of the survey agree the former Chinese President Jiang Zemin should be denied entry into Canada due to his persecuting Falun Gong.

Falun Gong practitioners performed traditional Chinese dance, folk dances, a cello solo and a Falun Gong exercise demonstration. Students from Minghui School also came to perform and handed out their hand-made crafts to children at the site.