Falun Gong Rally to Condemn Jiang’s Killing Spree
Members of Congress, Falun Gong Rally to Condemn Jiang’s Five Years of Systematic Torture, Killing
Speakers Honour Courage and Non-violence of Practitioners in China
WASHINGTON (FDI) – The man who helped organize the
historic 1986 summit in Geneva between U.S. President Ronald
Reagan and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev had a
message for the large rally that assembled on Capitol Hill
yesterday: seemingly insurmountable odds are surmountable.
“[Former Chinese leader] Jiang Zemin has terrorized the
Chinese people for so long, [and] he must go,” said
Ambassador Mark Palmer, a 26-veteran of the U.S. State
Department and Vice-chairman of the Board for Freedom House.
“It will happen,” Palmer told a crowd of over 1,000
practitioners and supporters of Falun Gong who had travelled
from more than 20 different countries to attend a series of
events to be held in Washington DC over the next several
days, beginning with the rally on Thursday. The rally began
with the introduction of over 120 children and young adults
who had biked to Washington DC from as far away as Canada as
part of the “Save the Kids Ride” project. Inspired by an
Australian toddler whose father was tortured to death in
China because he practiced Falun Gong (report), “Save the
Kids Ride” aims to raise awareness about how the persecution
against Falun Gong in China also targets children by
breaking families apart, forcing children to undergo
state-run indoctrination or even subjecting them to physical
abuse and torture.
Among the speakers at the rally
were Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and
Congressman Joseph M. Hoeffel III (D-PA) who have played
active roles in condemning the persecution of Falun Gong in
China and calling for action to stop Chinese government
officials from exporting persecution tactics against Falun
Gong to the U.S. and other countries. (special report /
news) Ros-Lehtinen has introduced several bills in the U.S.
House of Representatives addressing the systematic
“eradication” of Falun Gong carried out by Jiang and his
faction of allies within the Chinese Government. (news)