On February the 5th 2004, the French Falun Gong Association organised a press conference to announce that they would file a complaint against the arrest of Falun Gong practitioners by the French police, which occurred under tremendous pressure from Chinese officials during the Chinese New Year. The press conference was attended by five major national and international media organisations.

On January 27th 2004, the international conference on “Genocide in the New Era” proceeded into the second day. Thirteen human rights lawyers, law scholars and experts in diplomacy and media from Europe, Asia and North America delivered speeches. The topics of the discussion were of academic importance and highly praised by the delegates.

"Could the Presidency call on the French authorities to clarify the arrest policy used during this official visit. Could the Presidency also urge the French authorities to respect the fundamental rights of all European citizens to the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of assembly and freedom from arbitrary arrest."

On the 1st of February 2004, UK Falun Gong practitioners were invited to attend a Health Fair in Port Talbot, South Wales. During the fair, the Falun Dafa stand and exercise demonstration received an enthusiastic response. Practitioners also used this opportunity to clarify the truth to everybody at this fair and expose the persecution happening in China. The whole activity went very well.

From January 15 to 26, most major French media including AFP, Le Parisien, L'Humanit, Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur and Témoignage Chrétien revealed that the Chinese officials in France had put pressure on Paris to discriminate against Falun Gong. Some revealed that the Chinese regime went as far as threatening to cancel all the New Year activities in Paris if Falun Gong was allowed to participate. And what it meant was that the Chinese consulate was ready to cancel a 210,000 Euros contract with Paris City just to make sure no Falun Gong practitioner would be seen on the spot.

"30 Falun Gong practitioners were detained (some were even handcuffed) in Paris during January 24-27 2004. Some were handing out leaflets to inform about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Some just quietly watched the Chinese parade, and because they wore yellow scarves or clothes with the words “Falun Gong” or “Falun Dafa” they were treated as criminals by French police. Some of them didn't even wear clothes, scarves, or badges of this kind. These actions by the French police against peaceful European citizens are not only unfair, but also against human rights and democracy."

Wang Chengdong, 30 years of age, is from Group 12, Section 1 of Gongtian Village in Tongji County, Pengzhou City. He served in the army in Xinjiang Province for four years. He was hired by the 610 Office after he came back home from the army. Together with Luo Ke, he often cruelly tortures Falun Dafa practitioners. They always repeat filthy language such as, "A man will disappoint the Central Committee of the Party if he does not patronize prostitutes. A woman will disappoint Jiang Zemin if she does not prostitute herself."

His family immediately questioned the detention centre: Why didn't the detention centre send Song to a hospital for treatment? Why didn't the centre inform Song's family when his condition was so serious? Why didn't the centre inform Song's family immediately after he died? Why did they wait fourteen hours before they let the family know about Song's death?

In the next few days, the village organized a gathering in which they criticized Falun Gong. Students were forced to leave their classes and come to watch. Police officer Su Chaowen ordered a few other police officers to bind us and push us onto a truck. When the truck got to Sandun village's playground, there were more than 10,000 people already there, and the propaganda banners were everywhere. Before the meeting, the village government officials Li Guoqiang, Su Mingfeng, and Su Chaowen had already beaten Dafa practitioners viciously.

In the labour camp, he often suffered torture and other forms of physical punishment such as being forbidden to sleep and being confined in a solitary cell. He was once sent to the "stretching room" where the police tied up his hands and feet and stretched them in four different directions continuously for four days. His hands and feet were swollen terribly afterwards, which caused him difficulties in moving for more than a week.

I was also shocked with an electric baton, burned with a cigarette, my hands were beaten with a bamboo strips, I was beaten and kicked, and so forth. The police spoke viciously, "No practitioner who hasn't confessed under these devices and means can walk out of here." This just goes to show how cruel their torture methods are.....The Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp is just like a hell on earth. Every day we were beaten, forced to do hard work, deprived of sleep and not allowed to go to the toilet.

"I decided to write an article entitled "Too Much Vaudeville and too Little Culture" about this "culture" that has been incisively and vividly showcased in Paris--a farce which clearly tells the world's people that other than lion dancing, playing the dragon lantern, and showing a cheongsam, the Chinese ruling Party indeed has its own "culture" of "contents of thinking." This "culture" is what Jiang Zemin has initiated and created in person. It is the culture of hate and terror against the goodness of our 5,000 years of Chinese culture, which uses Falun Gong's "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" as the main target. This "culture," when Hu Jintao visited Paris, was presented to France as a special program for the "Chinese Culture Year" by Jiang Zemin's regime."

Mr. Jin was fully deceived by the government propaganda and said something slandering Falun Dafa. After hearing Mr. Jin's comments, Mr. An yelled "You don't have to believe in Falun Dafa, but you should not curse it! Have you ever heard that good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be punished by evil? Justice will prevail eventually." Mr. Jin left quietly after he heard what Mr. An said. Mr. An cleaned away the cow manure and continued to read the poster.

The press conference was held to inform the media about the court's verdict against Deputy Consul General of China in Toronto, Mr. Pan Xinchun. Toronto Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Joel Chipkar recently filed a libel lawsuit against Pan for libel and Pan was convicted by an Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

"The essence of this judgement tells us that attacking Falun Gong practitioners with the Chinese authorities' hate propaganda and slanderous words is not legal in Canada. In addition, it also tells us that Chinese officials in Canada will be held accountable when they abuse their privileges and commit illegal acts."

The Minnesota Minghui school incorporates the Falun Dafa principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" into its teaching, while it mainly teaches Chinese and introduces traditional Chinese culture. The school also teaches Falun Gong exercises and offers many other activities such as crafts, dancing and games.