Central News Agency: Chinese Student Studying in Canada Beaten up in PRC Embassy

December 31, 2001á A mainland Chinese student studying in Ottawa was beaten up Friday in the People's Republic of China Embassy during a New Year's movie party which also served as an anti-Falun Gong exhibition, the victim said Monday.

Leon Wang, 25, an MBA student at the University of Ottawa, was grabbed by several embassy staff members after he took a picture of the anti-Falun Gong display boards. Wang was an invited guest to the function. "Three or four Chinese Embassy staff forcefully dragged me into a room where they hit my head very heavily. I felt my head spinning, though I didn't lose consciousness," Wang said.

"I was forced to the ground many times. One embassy staff member twisted my arm behind my back and pummeled my body with his fist and kicked my legs. He pulled and dragged me, attempting to throw me to the ground. It was terrifying," he said.

More than 300 Chinese community members, including some young children, were treated to "shockingly graphic photographs," Wang said. He said the entire exhibition was a complete fabrication attacking Falun Gong.

"There were no signs prohibiting taking pictures, so I took a photo. For this, I was beaten as they tried to get my camera from me," he said.

"What are they hiding? Why are they so afraid of being taken a picture? If a Falun Gong practitioner can be subjected to this kind of treatment right here in Canada, just imagine how horrifying it must be for those persecuted in China," Wang said.

Xun Li, a spokesman for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, said the conduct of the Chinese embassy officials "is most alarming." Li said he was shocked "that they are carrying out their vicious policies and campaigns against Falun Gong in Canada."

Falun Gong is a body-mind-spirit practice focusing on the universal principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It is practiced in more than 50 countries by tens of millions of people.

Only [the Jiang Zemin regime] has been persecuting and slandering practitioners, since 1999 when it banned the movement out of apparent fear that the number of practitioners had come to surpass the number of [party's name omitted] members.