Press Statement for the Walk to Call for the Urgent Rescue of Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted in China

July 3, 2001

We are gathered here in New York at the Chinese consulate, several hundred strong, to begin a monumental walk to our nations capitol. We walk together to call for the urgent rescue of Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted in China. Around the world thousands are taking up similar walks in support of this cause. In our own nation, hundreds are journeying for the next two weeks to Washington for a march and rally on the 19th. They walk from Boston; they bike from Florida; they drive from San Franciscoeach is determined to rescue the practitioners in China.

Today in the Peoples Republic of China, tens of millions of ordinary people who practice Falun Gong are being treated ruthlessly. Human rights groups report that these practitioners are being illegally jailed, beaten, tortured, raped, and even killed. All this, for simply doing a traditional spiritual practice that includes exercise and meditation.

We have chosen to do our walk this month because this July marks two years of persecution. Since July 20, 1999, we have seen Chinas totalitarian regime channel the force of the state against its own people. Literally overnight, tens of millions of people were suddenly cast as enemies of the party and then hunted. In the ensuing two years we have seen tens of thousands thrown into labor camps without trial, thousands forcefully committed to mental hospitals, and many thousands more being illegally held in jails and prisons. In each setting the conditions are deplorable, the treatment appalling. The captive Falun Gong practitioners are routinely the victims of terrible human rights abuses of every sort. At least 249 have been killed already in this violent campaign of suppression. This is two years too long!

What is most alarming is that this persecution, ordered by Chinas own president, Jiang Zemin, only continues to escalate, with pledges to intensify. Jiang has repeatedly declared his intention to completely eradicate Falun Gong, and apparently, will stop at nothing to make good on his disturbing promise. On June 11, for example, China put into action a new law allowing Falun Gong practitioners to be tried on charges of leaking state secrets or subversion if caught spreading information about the persecution. This measure is deeply alarming, as it means that practitioners can be punished with execution for the simple act of posting a flyer or stuffing a mailbox. Daily, it seems, we learn of police and prison guards bellowing that the commands from the top are to beat practitioners to death once theyre caught.

The results of this kind of leadership in China are gruesome. Consider the reports of just the past two weeks, for example. On June 29 it was reported that a Falun Gong practitioner in Baiguo Township, Hubei province, was severely beaten, dragged before the local government building, and set on fire while still alive. Police quickly declared that this person died from self-immolation. In the same township two others who practiced Falun Gong were tied to the backs of motorcycles and dragged to their deaths at high speeds. Meanwhile, just a few days earlier, in Shuangcheng city a frail disabled man who walked with a cane was beaten to death by policeagain, simply for practicing Falun Gong. Now, as you just heard, even large groups of up to fifteen women are being raped and tortured to death. Women, children, the elderly and the disabled are not spared.

From day one this persecution has been in direct violation of Chinas own constitution, as well as the international human rights treaties it has signed. There can be no excuse whatsoever for the killings, the rapes, and the torture. Yet Jiangs regime has tried. It has contorted the legal system in bizarre ways to create an appearance of legality. It has published fictitious human rights papers, claiming these practitioners and their kin enjoy a golden age of human rights in China. It has lobbied hard and pressured foreign nations, threatening them, should they criticize the communist leaderships furious persecution. And now, with perfect regularity, the regime denies all deaths and rights abuses, instead blaming the victims and labeling everything as suicide. Police guilty of murdering innocent people who practice Falun Gong are not punished or even fired; instead, many are promoted or rewarded for their brutality. Even the Chinese consulate here in New York has joined in this disgraceful charade. It, too, has made a policy of denial. And for two years now, it has refused to hear all appeals in support of a peaceful resolution.

Clearly, the tens of millions of people who practice Falun Gong in China need our help, and need it now. Positive change can happen, and it begins with us. So this walk, then, is a call to all people who cherish human rights and freedom. The practitioners in China have walked hundreds of miles to their nations capitol, braving enormous, imminent risks. Now, it is our turn to walk. We again urge all kind people to join us as we call for urgent support to rescue the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Thank you!