July 8, 2001

A slight man with a mild voice and piercing blue eyes, Gerry Smith believes he has only 13 days to stop the death of hundreds, perhaps thousands of strangers.

Reports have leaked from China that the government has given Falun Gong practitioners there until July 20 to renounce the practice or face drastic consequences, including death.

There are reports hundreds of men and women have perished under the crackdown which began in 1999.

Falun Gong, a mental and physical discipline similar to Tai Chi, has become increasingly popular in China and across the world but the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to still its growth in that country, say practitioners.

Blind Eye

Smith, 54, became a devotee in 1999, when he saw fellow Nortel colleagues practising the movement during a lunch-hour break.

But at the time, Smith said he preferred to keep a blind eye to reports of men and women dying in China simply because they continued to practise Falun Gong or opposed measures to stop it.

"I didn't want to hear the stories," Smith said. "It made me sick."

But as he continued to practise, Smith said he began to feel a growing solidarity with his fellow practitioners abroad and his queasiness became even more pronounced, prompting a call to action.

He has pledged to sit in front of the Chinese embassy for 300 hours.

Last week, Smith said he saw reports on the Falun Gong website that 15 women were thrown into a male prison where they died. Chinese officials say it was a mass suicide. Soon after, he was told of the July 20 deadline.

"They've gone completely mad," Smith said.

To draw Canada's attention, Smith has vowed to sit outside of the Chinese embassy on St. Patrick St. until July 20. What should have been his summer holiday is now being spent under a tent, surrounded by a barrage of signs demanding an end to the persecution.

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