Falun Gong supporters lose appeal to maintain Granville Street presence

The Falun Gong supporters today lost a last-ditch appeal to prevent their protest site in front of Vancouver’s Chinese consulate from being dismantled.

Last month B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein found that the protest billboard and small shed at the site on Granville Street violated the city’s bylaws and ordered them removed.

On Friday the protestors applied to stay the order pending the hearing of a full appeal, but this morning B.C. Court of Appeal Chief Justice Lance Finch dismissed the stay application.

Finch found that the protestors might suffer some harm to their cause by the order, but it does not rise to the level of “irreparable harm,” one of the requirements that must be met to uphold a stay.

He observed that if the protestors succeed on their full appeal, which may not be heard until September, they can rebuild the structure at that point.

Outside court, city lawyer Tom Zworski said he expected the site would be removed sometime today.

Joe Arvay, a lawyer for the protestors, could not be reached for comment.

The protest site was set up seven years ago. The Falun Gong claim they have been persecuted by the Chinese government.

text from:http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/200902/t87567.htm

Indonesian Falun Gong radio station shut officially

The Jakarta Globe reported on February 5 that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology declined to grant the Batam-based Era Baru radio station a broadcasting license and terminated its operations.

The private station, which has been on air for several years, is run by a foundation linked to the China-based Falun Gong movement, an organization banned by the Chinese government.

In fact, Era Baru had always been running illegally. When interviewed by Jakarta Post on October, 2008, Parlindungan Sihombing, chairman of the provincial Broadcasting Commission of Riau Islands (KPID) said that Era Baru was one of three stations that did not have a broadcast permit as their programs had the potential to disrupt bilateral relations between Indonesia and China. KPID and the Batam Frequency Monitoring Agency then planned to close the three stations.

According to the report of Jakarta Globe, recently a lawyer claimed that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology terminated Era Baru radio station following a request from the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta.

But Gatot Dewa Broto, spokesman for the Communications and Information Technology Ministry, denied denied on Wednesday (February 4) that the Chinese Embassy had a hand in the ministry’s decision.

“We never received the complaint letter allegedly sent by the [Chinese] Embassy,” Gatot said, adding that this is not an era where the government would interfere and apply strict censorship on the media content.

He said the radio station had breached some of the ministry’s broadcasting regulations. A provincial broadcasting commission official also said that Era Baru aired 90 percent of its programs in Chinese, a violation of the 60 percent cap imposed by the commission.

Sources from:

1. Chinese hand seen in media meddling  

2. China-bashing radio station to be shut 

 

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/200902/t87472.htm

Falun Gong fails to gain cash or apology

Spiritual group Falun Gong has failed to get a public apology and cash payout after being banned from street parades by Wellington City Council.

The group was also unsuccessful in its attempt to take part in this weekend’s Chinese New Year Festival in Wellington.

The Human Rights Commission mediated a meeting last Thursday between Falun Gong, the council and festival organiser Asian Events Trust at which the issues were discussed.

It was seen as a way to stop Falun Gong taking High Court action against the council, which had barred the group from street parades because it considered it a political movement.

Falun Gong spokesman Chris Thomas and council spokesman Richard MacLean said the mediation was confidential and both refused to comment.

However, it is understood that Falun Gong asked the council to publicly apologise for the way it had treated the group.

It had also requested a cash payment from the council to help cover costs. The amount requested is unknown.

At the meeting, the Asian Events Trust told Falun Gong that it would not be invited to take part in this year’s Chinese New Year Festival, which includes a street parade on Sunday.

It is understood the trust was unconvinced that Falun Gong would contribute to the creative content of the event.

The trust also harboured feelings of distrust, hurt and suspicion linked to the behaviour of Falun Gong in previous events.

Falun Gong defied a ban two years ago when its float, decorated to look like a small boat, outmanoeuvred security guards and joined the tail of the parade.

The trust diverted inquiries to adviser Perry Walker, who works for the council as a stakeholder engagement manager.

“We were told that what went on in the mediation room was confidential … and I am not able to comment on the mediation itself,” he said. “But I do express some concern that somebody has.”

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/200902/t87440.htm

My experience of ‘ascension’

My name is Cui Qiaoyun, a retired worker in Kaifeng, the central China’s Henan Province, and used to be a Falun Gong addict. I’m going to tell you my experience of “ascension,” which sounds so ludicrous now.

At that time, several of us formed a study team, through which Falun Gong practitioners exchanged their experience and encouraged each other, building up our determination to practice Falun Gong time and again. In order to keep up with the practice, we bought a complete set of books as well as audio and video materials on Falun Gong. Some people had financial difficulties to begin with, but induced by the Falun Gong theories of practicing for completeness, curing diseases and body building, and becoming Buddha and Immortal, etc., they paid all they had for the books and discs. That time, ascension in the daylight with Master Li Hongzhi was the hope of all our fellow practitioners.

Infused with the fallacies and absurdities of Falun Gong, we gradually drifted away from the path of normal people and became extraordinary, posing ourselves as practitioners. We laughed at other people in the society who were buying houses, doing business, working, making every effort for a title of a technical post…For the image of the heaven would soon be shown to us, and all the things would disappear in a blink of the eye, but people were still spending money and energy to build houses, trying hard to learn those useless things, or learning those things with a faulty basis. Really, that was our true thought, regarding these people as ludicrous.

It was around the 9th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar in 1995 that a note was passed along among the Falun Gong practitioners in Kaifeng. The “scripture” wrote: “Come out and observe the heavenly bodies.” Hearing the news, members of our team gathered together and discussed excitedly for several days. We gave each other encouragement, imaging how would the Master Li Hongzhi call upon us and show up in the sky when he came, whether he would be able to name his devoted followers, and how we should follow him. Such thoughts made us very excited. It seemed that Consummation was at hand and we would be accomplished and follow the Master away. We even started to arrange for the things behind us, making arrangements for the family and saying farewells to them in the mind. Later, someone said that maybe it was because that the 9th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar is the Height Ascending Festival, which means that it’s time for leaving.

In the afternoon, I went to the supermarket and bought many things, clothes for different seasons for my daughter, quilts and winter clothes for my parents, spending all the money in my pocket. When I got home, I had supper with my all family members. To me, it was the last supper. At midnight, I arrived at the bank side of Longting Lake of Kaifeng. Many familiar or unfamiliar Falun Gong practitioners were gathering there. I found an obscure corner and singly sat down, watching the most beautiful place in the ancient city Kaifeng, with no mood to appreciate the scenery left more than 1,000 years. My heart was filled with joy and impulse waiting for “the Master.” Time passed by. An hour later, it was already in the dead of night. Why Master Li didn’t show up! Looking around, I could see clusters of fellow practitioners everywhere, waiting, some of them holding kids in their arms. Everyone was waiting for the change in the image of sky. Nothing happened by 2 o’clock in the next morning. At this time, a practitioner suggested that this might be a test of the Master. Others agreed, and scattered in droves. Nobody dared to doubt it was false, for doubt would generate karma. Infused with the theories of Falun Gong, we had lost the capacity of individual thinking and had become mindless puppets. A “feat of ascension” thus ended with silence.

Now I realize that the so-called “ascension in broad daylight” was a sheer trick. If Li Hongzhi were really such a rare “Buddha” rare to see in a thousand years, if he could go “ascension,” he would not have to hide in the United States to eke out a living. So many years have passed, but is there ever a Dafa practitioner ascending in daylight?

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Words/200905/t91732.htm

The Falun Gong IS a crazy cult, just like Scientology

A good buddy of mine got invited to attend a Divine Performance Arts Show from the Falun Gong. He showed me a flyer which featured the stereotypical Oriental dancers in their exotic Oriental costumes, giving the impression of an elegant Chinese culture and arts performance show. Apparently not so. My friend attended the show and had some very interesting and notable points to share with me.

It is one thing to criticize the Chinese government, but it is another to use sensationalist propaganda to gain sympathy from benign audiences. The show portrayed the Falun Gong as innocent victims. The bad guys wore black jackets with the communist hammer and sickle logo, and were depicted kicking dogs and children.

Since that episode, my friend had received a series of Internet e-mails from the Falun Gong. Furthermore, they sent him books by mail, including a Falun Gong Bible. The most disturbing incident of all was when he got an unannounced visit from Falun Gong members at his workplace office. They had a camera with them and wanted my friend to answer some questions and speak in front of the camera. His co-workers were taken aback and wondered who these people were.

Now, this doesn’t take away from the validity of the Falun Gong’s claims of persecution. Regardless of their activities, members of that sect should not be tortured, enslaved and have their organs harvested. All the same, allegations that the Falun Gong employ tactics of seduction, coercion and deception to recruit new members are of grave concern.

My friend, being a liberal Catholic and very open-minded, has already decided that he will read the Falun Gong Bible so he can learn more about the religion and what it has to say. It will be interesting for him to share how he feels personally about their views and maybe eye-opening for me to digest all the information he will dispense from his readings.

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/puop/200905/t91996.htm

The ‘Amulet’ that harms or even kills people

I used to be a Falun Gong practitioner. Instigated by Minghui, I secretly distributed Falun Gong “amulets” to other people in order to “save” them. But to my astonishment, two fellow practitioners reserving amulets were both out of luck: one was thrown into jail for violating laws; the other died of cancer. Here is what happened:

One day in March 2007, Wang Yunzhu, my fellow practitioner invited me to a thanksgiving dinner in her house for my finding her a good husband. When we met she said to me mystically: “How can you still behave like an ordinary person? Fa’s rectification of human world is approaching, and how can you do nothing to rescue the world’s people?” Then, she continued to talk about “the God will annihilate the Communist Party,” “the great elimination is oncoming” and so on. I was scared to death: if her words were true, I would “be distinguished physically and spiritually.” But if I really “go out (against the government)” as asked by Li Hongzhi, I would certainly violate the national law. She seemed to look through my mind, and handed me dozens of hard-paper cards, on which were printed the picture of Li Hongzhi sitting on the lotus and words like “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance are good,” “Falun Dafa is good” and “seeing is fortune, gaining is blessing.” Then she said: “These amulets can bless you and keep you safe. If you give them to others, you’ll rescue them, and that is an enormous beneficence.”

Holding the amulets in hand, I felt much at ease. The moment I came back home I gave them to my sister and son. However, they refused to accept it, saying it was superstitious, and warned me not to do stupid things. I thought even my relatives were unwilling to take it, let alone others. I decided to keep them for the predestined ones.

One day in August 2007, I came across a fellow practitioner called Cheng Yuzhen. We had a talk and I knew she was also practicing Falun Gong secretly, and then she asked me if I had the amulets. Happily, I took out the amulets, kept one with myself and gave the rest to her. I believed I had done great beneficence and felt quite satisfied.

Several days later, however, the policemen came to find me. The reason was that Chen Yuzhen, with the amulets on her, thinking she would be protected by the Master, spread amulets and shouted out “Falun Dafa is good” on the No. 56 bus. She was reported to the police and arrested on the spot. When she was on trial, she confessed the amulets were all from me.

More unexpectedly, Chen Yuzhen who had practiced Falun Gong for years caught pancreas cancer. Recently, she always felt pain in her abdomen; however, she thought it was from Li Hongzhi who helped her “remove Karma.” In September 2007, the pain became unbearable and she conceded to go to hospital under the plea of her family members. The result turned out to be a terminal pancreas cancer. She died only half a year later.

Relying on the protection of “amulet,” Wang Yunzhu printed thousands of Falun Gong leaflets and distributed them around, thus, she was arrested and thrown into jail.

The two cases make me realize Falun Gong’s “amulets” harm or even kill people. The so-called amulets are actually utilized by Li Hongzhi to incite his followers to make turmoil in society! I want to tell those obsessed disciples, “tragedies have already happened; Falun Gong and its amulets can only bring you disaster, please give them up now!”

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Words/200905/t92287.htm

The ‘Amulet’ that harms or even kills people

I used to be a Falun Gong practitioner. Instigated by Minghui, I secretly distributed Falun Gong “amulets” to other people in order to “save” them. But to my astonishment, two fellow practitioners reserving amulets were both out of luck: one was thrown into jail for violating laws; the other died of cancer. Here is what happened:

One day in March 2007, Wang Yunzhu, my fellow practitioner invited me to a thanksgiving dinner in her house for my finding her a good husband. When we met she said to me mystically: “How can you still behave like an ordinary person? Fa’s rectification of human world is approaching, and how can you do nothing to rescue the world’s people?” Then, she continued to talk about “the God will annihilate the Communist Party,” “the great elimination is oncoming” and so on. I was scared to death: if her words were true, I would “be distinguished physically and spiritually.” But if I really “go out (against the government)” as asked by Li Hongzhi, I would certainly violate the national law. She seemed to look through my mind, and handed me dozens of hard-paper cards, on which were printed the picture of Li Hongzhi sitting on the lotus and words like “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance are good,” “Falun Dafa is good” and “seeing is fortune, gaining is blessing.” Then she said: “These amulets can bless you and keep you safe. If you give them to others, you’ll rescue them, and that is an enormous beneficence.”

Holding the amulets in hand, I felt much at ease. The moment I came back home I gave them to my sister and son. However, they refused to accept it, saying it was superstitious, and warned me not to do stupid things. I thought even my relatives were unwilling to take it, let alone others. I decided to keep them for the predestined ones.

One day in August 2007, I came across a fellow practitioner called Cheng Yuzhen. We had a talk and I knew she was also practicing Falun Gong secretly, and then she asked me if I had the amulets. Happily, I took out the amulets, kept one with myself and gave the rest to her. I believed I had done great beneficence and felt quite satisfied.

Several days later, however, the policemen came to find me. The reason was that Chen Yuzhen, with the amulets on her, thinking she would be protected by the Master, spread amulets and shouted out “Falun Dafa is good” on the No. 56 bus. She was reported to the police and arrested on the spot. When she was on trial, she confessed the amulets were all from me.

More unexpectedly, Chen Yuzhen who had practiced Falun Gong for years caught pancreas cancer. Recently, she always felt pain in her abdomen; however, she thought it was from Li Hongzhi who helped her “remove Karma.” In September 2007, the pain became unbearable and she conceded to go to hospital under the plea of her family members. The result turned out to be a terminal pancreas cancer. She died only half a year later.

Relying on the protection of “amulet,” Wang Yunzhu printed thousands of Falun Gong leaflets and distributed them around, thus, she was arrested and thrown into jail.

The two cases make me realize Falun Gong’s “amulets” harm or even kill people. The so-called amulets are actually utilized by Li Hongzhi to incite his followers to make turmoil in society! I want to tell those obsessed disciples, “tragedies have already happened; Falun Gong and its amulets can only bring you disaster, please give them up now!”

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Words/200905/t92287.htm

City of Vancouver wins legal costs against Falun Gong protesters

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein has issued a ruling against Falun Gong protesters, who started a protest camp in 2001 outside China’s Vancouver consulate.

In a May 6 decision, the judge awarded costs to the City of Vancouver after it had obtained an injunction earlier this year against Sue Zhang and unnamed defendants earlier this year. 

The court ruled last January that the protesters had violated a city bylaw by erecting a structure outside the consulate in the 3300 block of Granville Street.

In the recent case concerning legal expenses, the Falun Gong protesters argued that they were exercising their constitutional right to freedom of expression, and as such, they should be entited to their costs.

Stromberg-Stein, however, sided with the city. The judgement did not reveal how much the protesters will have to pay to cover the city’s legal costs.

City staff lawyer Tom Zworski argued the case on behalf of the petitioners. Joe Arvay and Clive Ansley represented the Falun Gong protesters, who were the respondents.

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/200905/t91877.htm

Keeping Falun Gong group offstage at celebration

When Falun Gong practitioners sought the opportunity to do their exercises onstage at this Saturday’s Asian-American Celebration at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, they were denied by organizers of the Chinese-community performances for “the Falun Gong group is too political, too controversial, You have a strong agenda,” sources from timesdispatch.com on May 7.

John Kang, a member of the Richmond Chinese Network, said the Falun Gong group was too late in seeking to perform in the celebration.

Kang, in a later e-mail, disputed the idea that Falon Gong’s exercises are traditional. He said they were created by its founder 30 years ago.

“Falun Gong, recognizing America’s interest in multiculturalism and diversity, uses dance performances to promote its anti-China message,” he wrote.

In a March 17 e-mail, Jaye Li told Wang that organizers had already selected enough performances. But a subsequent e-mail suggests other factors were at work.

In a March 25 e-mail, Li wrote that the annual Asian event “is intended as a cultural exchange platform and Falun Gong group is not a cultural organization. It has strong political agenda and is not appropriate to represent the Chinese culture. As you may be aware, I am not the only person who feels this way.”

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/200905/t91873.htm

Disordered people, disordered Falun Gong

Beside my office there is a newspaper office fund by a semi-religious organization called Falun Gong. I knew its name because of the news that last May when the tragedy of Sichuan earthquake saddens millions of people all around the world, Falun Gong held a party to celebrate the “Bad Karma for China”. I was angry at that time; angry at the FG for kicking China when its down.

Featured with speeches and posters, the cults would not incur my personal repulsion if they just do what they used to do – raise up their flags and hand out their brochures. The path between offices is not that wide. At rush hours, their movement always bring troubles.

When I took a cup of coffee back to my office, after lunch break today, one of the cults awkwardly jostled me, sloshing some on my shirt. What’s disappointed, even wrathful, is that no sorry for his rudeness, at all. That’s really really terrible.

“Ooops! Would you have a t-shirt around? What a mess!” when my colleague Kim saw he said.

She told me that 25th of last month she witnessed one exhibition, hold by those cults, at the out side of Flinders Station, that was disordered. They deserved apparently unwelcome at our community – no contribution at all, but confusion.

Australia is a freedom place, at where you could declare yourself, but be ordered please. Whoever would like to be well-disposed by someone else has to be valued to others first. Whoever wants people believe what they declare is right should act responsibly first.

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/puop/200905/t91762.htm