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Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 6:20 p.m. ET: Practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in San Francisco claim they have been the targets of a series of assaults orchestrated by the Chinese consulate, and they’re urging police and prosecutors to investigate the incidents as hate crimes.
Falun Gong practitioners have been harassed and assaulted at least nine times in past eight months -- seven times in Chinatown alone, said Sherry Zhang, spokeswoman for the Falun Gong in San Francisco. Police reports were filed in at least three cases, she said.
“We definitely want them to take this very seriously. It definitely is not an isolated incident anymore,” Zhang told msnbc.com on Wednesday.
San Francisco police said there's no indication to date that Chinese authorities are behind the attacks.
Falun Gong is outlawed in China, where the Communist Party leadership in 1999 declared it a “heretical organization” and views it as a destructive cult. Falun Gong leaders claim their adherents are persecuted and tortured in China, and that followers in the U.S. and other countries are harassed by people loyal to the Chinese government.
Falun Gong followers in San Francisco last week showed a video of an alleged assault to the Board of Supervisors and also held a demonstration outside City Hall.
The video was of a June 10 incident on a street corner in San Francisco's Chinatown where a group of Falun Gong practitioners had gathered, holding signs and handing out literature detailing what they said was the persecution and torture of followers in China.
In the video, which Zhang said was a compilation of shots by Falun Gong practitioners and bystanders, an older Chinese man in a hat allegedly curses at a Falun Gong member and then punches him in the face. As police arrive, another Chinese-speaking man in the crowd gestures toward a person filming the incident and, according to the videomaker’s translation, yells, “Don’t stare at me. If I in mainland China I would break your leg.” A 72-year-old man is being investigated for alleged battery in the case, according to the police report.
In another case on June 16, a Falun Gong member told police a Chinese man struck her wrist with a protest sign. The man was cited by police and released.
“These are hate crimes. The only reason for them is because people influenced by the Chinese Consulate want to attack Falun Gong,” Zhang told The Epoch Times, a newspaper founded by followers and supporters of Falun Gong.
“This attack targets a group of people because of their belief. In the United States, if you attack an individual or their belongings because of their belief, it’s regarded as a hate crime,” Ye Ning, a New York-based human rights attorney, told New Tang Dynasty Television, a broadcaster based in New York. “This incident in San Francisco does not appear to be a simple act of violence. There was no motive aside from hate."
The Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco did not respond to a telephone call and email from msnbc.com for comment on Wednesday.
Police Officer Carlos Manfredi said Wednesday there's no indication in the police reports that the June 10 and June 16 incidents were the work of the Chinese consulate.
"As of right now the two separate incidents were simple battery. The suspects were charged and have court dates," he said.
Manfredi said, however, that police are still collecting information on all the incidents.
San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr told New Dynasty Television that authorities take allegations of hate crimes seriously.
“If the investigation shows that the folks were attacked based on their religion, then absolutely that would be the motivation and that would be a hate crime,” he said.
He said he couldn’t comment on allegations the attacks were coordinated until the investigation is completed, the TV station reported.
Claims of abuse of Falun Gong practitioners by government authorities in China are not new. Amnesty International recently issued an appeal on its website calling for international action to free two Falun Gong practitioners it said were detained and “at risk of torture.”
In 2005, Chen Yonglin, a diplomat at the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney, defected to Australia and later said his job entailed collecting names and reporting on Falun Gong practitioners.
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Leave a Comment:
Why is the motivation so damn important? That's like caring about the color of the bullet that blows your brains out. "Cited and released"? Why isn't that turd in jail?
Falun gong is an evil cult that encourage its members to commit suicide and pit against their parents, . It is an icon of evil and should be outlawed wherever it is established.
That is in direct opposition to what this country stands for. I think all religions are ridiculous, but more strongly believe in the free exercises of them (with some limitations for health and safety of course).
Isn't Falun Gong the same people who did the cyanide gas in the subways thing?
No, you are probably thinking about the sarin gas attack that occured in the Japanese subway system. These were perpetrated by the Aum Shinrikyo. Japan and China are two very different countries, and the Falun Gong and Aum Shinrikyo are two completely separate groups. The Falun Gong is just a group that espouses meditation and nothing more.
Without expressing support for Falun Gong (the alleged victims are irrelevant), if it is determined that any official of the People's Republic of China has authorized ANY actions whatsoever on US soil in violation of the laws of the US, the perpetrators AND the top officials/members of the Chinese diplomatic community in the US should be summarily ejected from the US in the most public and humiliating manner possible. In the United States of america you have civil rights and human rights; even if we don't especially like your message.
Yes Robert. Falun Gong is a "qigong" spiritual movement that draws on Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian traditions. It emphasizes moral behavior through its central tenets of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. Just from this anyone can see why the Chinese communist government views it as a threat to its power and why they try to surpress it by persecuting its members. As for this country (USA), how about militant gay groups (not all gays) who attack religious people because of their religious beliefs? Aren't those hate crimes too? Can't we all live together in peace and try to be tolerant of each other's beliefs?
Sure are. However, I'm as about as staunch a gay rights supporter as there is, and I have never committed a crime against a religious group. Nor have I heard of it. Please provide a supported example of this happening. Thanks.
@EngEsq
Just ask the spokesperson for the gay community in your area or the witnesses for the gay marriage trial in SF who were afraid to testify because of threats against them or Bash Back, OutRage!, STAR, The Lesbian Avengers, Act Up, etc.. People who are gay are no different from the rest of the human species except for their sexual orientation. Unfortunately they are not immunized from all the weaknesses and vices that humans are susceptible to including self-righteousness.
If I was the Chinese consulate, that's exactly what I would do to harass Falun Gong. I would get a 72-year-old man to throw a punch and persuade another to bump somebody on the wrist with a sign. That'll put the fear of Mao into them! Those are some highly trained Chinese assassins, for sure.
Believe or not, Chinese gov is way too sophisticated to do stupid, useless and risky things like 'getting a 72-year-old man to throw a punch' or 'persuading another to bump somebody on the wrist...with a sign'??... lol...
The only conclusion from this article is : The Chinese gov becomes the target with ZERO evidence...in a 'ruled-by-law', 'pro-civil rights' and 'pro-human rights' country named 'USA'.
Oh, btw, with so many Chinese students around, simply ask them, then you will realize what a liar the 'Falun Gong' is. I don't expect you to trust me, but at least you should do some homework before making your conclusion.
The Chinese are some really nasty business. Still prefer them to blacks, though.
Aren't you sweet.
It's not a coordinated attack perpetrated by the Chinese government... so to say. Unless you take into account the massive amount of indoctrination in the PRC and the current emigration of Chinese into the US and other western nations.
The Chinese government outlaws Falun Gong for one reason and one reason only - One of their core messages is "Leave the Party, have a better life" (they plaster the message everywhere here).
They put fort this message with countless examples of the atrocities of the Chinese government. When you add in the ultra-nationalistic indoctrination (and the indoctrination of hate) in China, people do overreact (quite severely sometimes) to any negative criticism of the central government.
When you consider the massive "anti-protest" protests that WERE perpetrated by the Chinese consulate during the Olympic Torch Relay... it isn't too hard to see.
Falun Gong are terrorists. dont trust their BS. their movement is some shenanigans
I guess anybody can gather up a gang of weirdo's with some ulterior motive and call it a "religion". Then look at the perks you get: no taxes, subversive activity is OK, immoral activity is OK, you don't have to be bothered with U.S. law nor state law, you can collect money by means that would otherwise be considered fraud, and be a powerful bigshot in your "community".
Imagine being woken up in the middle night, taken away from your home, and thrown into prison without anyone knowing what happened to you all because of your spiritual belief. We take for granted that freedom here without realizing how many people in the world can't do what we do. Falun Gong is raising awareness of what's concealed in China. To be human is to have compassion, care for what happens to others, and trying to make a difference. Why can't the people of China have the same rights as us here? They're humans just the same, born with inalienable rights just like us. That's the difference Falun Gong is trying to make in this world. To have the strength and courage to make a stand against the Chinese Communist Gov't, Falun Gong should be supported, not mocked. Also, there's absolutely no teaching at all of burning oneself, telling people to leave their families, leaving their jobs, etc. In fact, its teaching is quite the contrary. It teaches to live one's life with a high moral standard, to be compassionate towards everyone.
About Falun Gong, I was mislead by many Chinese media in the U.S. until the report by Jamestown Foundation in 2001 revealed that, the Chinese media including Sing Tao and World Journal are controlled by the Communist Chinese government (google China Brief article by Jamestown Foundation). Falun Gong teaches Buddha School principals. Killing is prohibited and so there was never things like "encourage its members to commit suicide" type of behavior as it portrayed in the Chinese government controlled media. You can see the video here and you will be able to understand what happened about this whole "Commit Suicide" propaganda:
Those Chinese media that got money / benefit from the Communist not only covered up the biggest hate propaganda, twist the story around and so that the readers can't think clearly about what happened in the past 11 years. Why is there no Falun Gong practitioners "commit suicide" in over 100 countries, except that scene in Beijing Tiananmen Square as it showed in the clip above? Why did the ex-president Jiang Zemin launched the persecution when nobody supported it back then and how certain officials became filthy rich and powerful after the bloody persecution.
I remember, few years ago in the Chinese government controlled newspaper in the U.S. they put a photo of Falun Gong practitioners under the 911 attack incidence report to imply that it is related to Falun Gong.. so many times, if you follow the media, this is the exact image you get. What is this about? Of course, time tells the truth.
With the above report, SingTao newspaper last week make a big story implying "Falun Gong practitioners beating up elderly in Chinatown". Here is a video:
I personally know the yellow shirt lady who got beaten in the scene. Her younger sister was persecuted to death, her older brother was sentenced to jail without trials for 13 years, he is on his 12th year now. She personally escaped because the doctor who was going to harvest her organ told her to run. She was the only fortunate one left and now she holds the board to tell the truth about how severe this is.
David Kilgour and David Matas, Canadian Parliament member officials investigated the organ harvesting issue out of innocent Falun Gong practitioners and the money the the Chinese government is making... can you believe, when you are promised 5 days to 2 weeks organ transplant in China, from cornea to kidney, it is life exchanging life??? Their body will be burnt afterwards to destroy these evidence. BTW, David Matas is a holocaust witness. He worked very hard to stop this biggest crime against humanity. The Chinese government had a survey before they launched the persecution and found that 70,000,000 people practicing Falun Gong, official figure. Even government official families are practicing it. They all knew very well, there is no harm to it. With this persecution, you see only few government officials got most out of it, Bo Xilai, Zhou Rong Kong.
This year is 2012, if you are reading my comment this far. Please take some time to see those youtube videos and here is Canadian report online:
When you have hate in your heart, regardless of how right you think you are, there is a problem. Those of you that hate Falun Gong so much, you can ask, do you really know what this practice is? The teaching is online, free to download and practice. Try to give yourself a chance and don't follow whatever Chinese government wants to target. Chinese people, reflect on history, Cultural Revolution and look really to the places other than three rich cities in China, what are the Chinese enduring, still remember the schools that falls apart at the earthquake few years ago... Are they really free? Are there really justice? 0.04% of the population captures 96% of the wealth of the nation.
I used to have migraine headache all the time and took Chinese and Western medicine, eventually I tried practicing it when I was studying at pharmacy school at USC. I think it was one of the best treasure left. This is an ancient spiritual practice brought to the public, it's not only Qigong but you ask yourself to uphold to the principal of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance."
When Chinese government try to target a group, they start to demonize them with the media. If western media do not have the wisdom to decipher truly what this is, then just look into your heart and be responsible. There was a joke in China, you can't believe anything but the "Date" in the Chinese newspaper. If western media already knew the true pictures, then spread it! If people are not sure, then study it. Don't ever blindly follow...
When my parents told me don't touch Falun Gong, I told them, I don't know what it is, I have to read this through and find out for myself. Now, my family and friends practice it too. It spread by word of mouth, heart to heart even after all these hate campaign. Some Chinese people says, if Chinese government say something no good, it must be bad. I asked, REALLY??? What about this June 4th Massacre in 1989. They said nothing happened in all these years too. So many so many...
I support the Epoch Times, you will find true news there. No hate. Just real news.
If you look for a good meditation practice, that allows you to have peace in heart, to have a heart big enough not to hit back when other hits you, uphold yourself to high moral standard, you can check: www.falundafa.org
Afterall, you know why the elderly dare to hit Falun Gong practitioners that young? Because he knew, Falun Gong practitioners only use peace to convey their messages. They don't hit back.
Thanks for reading this far. I came across this article late. But I decided to spend sometime to share. I saw many people pray in the temples for good fortune, good health, or pray for personal gains. I think if our heart is right, we will be watched over because the Gods will protect those who strives to be good without burning incense to worship blindly.
@Shalina Fung
Thank you for taking the time to write such a complete explaination. I hope things improve for you and the members of Falun Gong in the future and you are able to practice your beliefs in peace.
Those Gongs made me sick! Each time I went in to get my visa, they caused my huge inconvinience.
I have no love for chinese goverment,but when the fulan gong people video tapeing the old man without permission.The old man try to grab the camera phone from the fulan gong people.The story become the fulan gong being assualt.Because people have a poltical differende ,they(fulan gong )will call you a communist lover.
@shilina fung
Where is Epoch time get there funding?Are they fund by the (fulan gong)? I read epoch time also and I found ,They only write one side of the story.They are bias media just like communist media.