Excerpts from Media Reports on Falun Gong during U. N. Millennium Summit

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[Reuters]

While the sounds of other demonstrations blared over loudspeakers, the Falun Gong supporters sat silently, legs crossed, reading.

[AP]

About 400 Falun Gong members, some of them wearing T-shirts that read ``Stop persecuting Falun Gong'' held their meditation exercises Tuesday morning

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Reuters: Unprecedented UN Meeting Spawns Array of Protests [09/05/00]

NEW YORK, September 5, 2000 (Reuters) - As world leaders gathered inside the United Nations Tuesday to talk about global troubles, other voices aimed to make themselves heard in a colorful array of protests outside the historic summit.

A similar sentiment could be found at a streetcorner protest on behalf of Falun Gong spiritual practitioners, whose movement has been banned by the Chinese government.

While the sounds of other demonstrations blared over loudspeakers, with drums banging and cowbells clanging, the Falun Gong supporters sat silently, legs crossed, reading.

``Silence is very powerful,'' said Falun Gong follower Joel Chipkar, a real estate broker from Toronto. ``We're not trying to overpower anybody.

``If we can reach the people, just so you know it is not an evil cult, that's all we're here for,'' he said.

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AP: World Leaders Assemble at U.N. [09/05/00]

UNITED NATIONS, September 5, 2000 (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged the kings, generals and presidents descending on New York for the U.N. Millennium Summit to use the unprecedented meeting to forge peace and end poverty in the 21st century.

[The Chinese president], however, will have his own controversies to deal with as members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement stage continuous demonstrations against the Chinese leader for Beijing's crackdown on the [group] - part of the 91 demonstrations planned this week.

About 400 Falun Gong members, some of them wearing T-shirts that read ``Stop persecuting Falun Gong'' held their meditation exercises Tuesday morning outside the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, where [the Chinese president] was hosting a breakfast meeting with American media executives.

``We're trying to rally Americans to try to do something to help us,'' protester Gail Rachlin said.

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