(Clearwisdom.net) A Minghui Correspondent reports from New York that from April 14 to 18, the Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International US section was held at the New York Marriott in Brooklyn. Falun Gong practitioners joined the "New Idea Display" with the theme of "Petals of Peace."

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A teacher wishes to bring stories about paper lotus flowers and its folding method to her students

Background of "Petals of Peace" event

Since June 10, 1999, Jiang Zemin and his followers have staged and pushed their state-sanctioned terrorism. As a result, many Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death or injured. Countless families have been torn apart, and hundreds of thousands of practitioners have been forced to leave home and become destitute to avoid being imprisoned. Millions of practitioners' family members, friends and colleagues have encountered different degrees of incrimination and brainwashing. It has been verified that 951 Falun Gong practitioners have died from the persecution. Over the past nearly five years of persecution, countless children have encountered discrimination and threats; some were obliged to discontinue their studies, some were detained, beaten or forced to leave home; some lost their family members, either because they themselves persisted in their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" or because their parents were Falun Gong practitioners. Some children have died from the persecution.

The "Petals of Peace" event especially emphasizes the plight encountered by millions of children in China whose parents were either tortured to death or imprisoned and therefore were unable to take care of them. The persecuted children also include those who were forced to sign a "guarantee letter opposing Falun Gong". This event encourages children throughout the world to learn to fold paper lotus flowers as a symbol to stop the persecution and to expose the Jiang group's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Through the event, we try to help more people learn about the ongoing persecution in China that has affected every individual and hope people help stop it. The lotus flowers symbolize children's hope that this unreasonable persecution will eventually be stopped.

Children tortured to death

In the unbridled persecution against the belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" , Jiang and his followers have not even spared the children. According to estimates, the ages of children who have died from the persecution ranges from 18 months to 17-18 years old.

On November 7, 2000, Meng Hao, an infant boy less than eight months old was tortured to death with his mother Ms. Wang Lixuan at Beijing's Tuanhe Labor Camp.

Wang Shujie was a four-year-old girl, who lived at Miaoshansan Village, Miaoshan Town, Laiwu City, Shangdong Province. Both of her parents are Falun Gong practitioners. Since the persecution began in 1999, little Shujie had to face round upon round of separation from her parents, and she was extremely traumatized. On July 15, 2002, little Shujie passed away.

Liu Qian, a 12-year-old girl, and a third-grade student at the Gegezhuang Village Elementary School, Hebei Province was diagnosed on November 15, 2003 to be suffering from leukemia. Seven days after she started practicing Falun Gong, she completely recovered. Unfortunately, her school did not allow her to continue her study simply because she would not give up her practice of Falun Gong. Being a young child, Liu Qian was unable to deal with the cruel situation and she suddenly passed away on the 22^nd day of the first month of the Lunar New Year of 2004.

Ms Cheng Ying, 17 years old, was a student at Shuren High School, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. On July 22, 1999, Chen Ying went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. On August 16, 1999, while being taken from Beijing back to her hometown, she was beaten, cursed and threatened by police officers and was forced to jump out of the train. She died as a result.

More children are suffering in the persecution

The above are just a few known cases up to present. More children are suffering in this inhuman persecution:

• Dafa practitioners from Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, Dong Junming and Wang Shumei's child was born in May 1999. The parents were abducted and later were forced to leave home to avoid being persecuted further. Their baby has to live with his grandparents where having enough food is a difficulty.

• On July 21, 2000, Falun Gong practitioner from Laiwu City, Shangdong Province, Mr. Wang Zideng and his five other family members, including his 2-year-old son and a niece, were forcibly detained in the local detention center. The electricity and water supply were cut off. His daughter was unable to obtain her diploma after she graduated from high school. When his whole family was detained in the detention center, his 2-year-old son held onto the metal crib and heartbreakingly cried, "I want to go home, I want to go home..."

• The Yanggu County Police Station, Shangdong Province once detained a 6-month-old infant with his grandparents and parents in an ice-cold detention center, exposed to inhumane conditions.

• At about 9 pm on September 1, 2003, several police officers from Fushun Municipal Bureau of Public Security, Liaoning Province broke into Korean Dafa practitioner Luo Jingyu's home and abducted Ms. Luo and her 3-year-old daughter to the local brainwashing center.

• A 2-year-old bay from Mengyang Town, Pengzhou City was abducted with his parents and grandmother in May 2002 and detained in the town government office building, simply because his family members persisted in practicing Falun Gong. At first, the baby was locked in a dirty room with his mother for more than three months. The commode was put in the room and bugs and mosquitoes were everywhere. Later, because they were unable to afford the fines, the family of four was sent to Pengzhou Detention Center. The 2-year-old baby was imprisoned for at least 9 months. Because the baby had to eat the poor quality jail food for a long period of time, he was emaciated with a sallow complexion. Each day, he used his little hands to strike the jail door and cried, "Let me out!" The scene moved people to tears.

• In 2000 to 2001, four-year-old Rongrong from Shangdong Province successively lost the three people who loved her the most. Her father was tortured to death. Her mother was forced to leave home to avoid being imprisoned. Her grandmother was unable to bear the tribulation and passed away.

• Miss Chen Si, 13 years old, was a middle school student. She lived in the Shapingba District, Chongqing City. During her summer vacation, she went out to distribute Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials and was arrested. People who were deceived by the slandering propaganda and hated Falun Gong beat her terribly. Later, Miss Chen Si was sent to the Geleshang Brainwashing Center in Shapingba District and was force-fed for two weeks in the Geleshan Psychiatric Hospital. When her school began, the "610 office" officials refused to allow her to go to school because she would not give up her belief in Falun Gong.

• In December 2000, 16-year-old Dafa practitioner, Xiao Zhang from Qiangyuan County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province unfurled a banner imprinted with the words, "Falun Dafa is good" on the Tiananmen gate tower. In front of other people, the police officers beat him and kicked him badly with their leather shoes. The 16-year-old Xiao Zhang lost consciousness on the spot. Later, seeing Xiao Zhang's health in a desperate situation, the Tiananmen Square police station sent him to a hospital for an emergency treatment. After that, Xiao Zhang was sent back to Xiangyuan and sentenced to 1.5 years in jail.

"Petals of Peace" calls for understanding and attention

In China, not only are millions of practitioners' families suffering from the persecution, but the children in these families are also damaged both physically and mentally. This persecution, which is completely based on lies, has affected every family and every child. The education system was also forced to become the accomplice of the Jiang group. It has spread lies, poisoned children's pure hearts, and deprived children of their right to go to school.

Paper lotus flowers were displayed at the "Petals of Peace" booth and were especially eye-catching. Falun Gong practitioners talked with many contact persons of Amnesty International chapters in different regions in the U.S. They also presented the beautiful paper lotus flowers to the display attendees. Some people directly put the flowers on their clothing. Innocent children touch people's hearts. The paper lotus flowers help people to learn more about and pay more attention to the brutal persecution taking place in China.