(Clearwisdom.net) As a result of political pressure from Jiang Zemin's regime's, Falun Gong was excluded from a Chinese New Year parade held in the Champs-Elysees, Paris' largest avenue. Cybercast News Service covered the story in a report about Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to France.

According to the report, Alain Tong, president of the Falun Gong Association of France, said his organization was turned down from participating in the New Year's parade even though their request was handed in to authorities on time and scores of other associations were invited to take part.

"We were excluded because of the pressure from (military chief) Jiang Zemin's regime - not Hu Jintao's - because he [Jiang] is afraid that his criminal acts against Falun Gong will be publicly revealed," Tong said. "I believe they pressured the French organizers to exclude Falun Gong."

Tong said since Jiang decided to crack down on the Falun Gong movement four years ago, more than 870 followers have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been interned in labor camps and psychiatric hospitals.