(Clearwisdom.Net)
On August 9, 2002, Boston practitioners held a press conference at the Cambridge University Park Hotel to expose dictator Jiang's extension of his persecution of Falun Gong to include overseas practitioners and the political trial of Hong Kong practitioners based on accusations from Hong Kong police.
In his statement, the spokesman for Falun Gong pointed out that, in Germany, policemen interfered with Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful protest; In Iceland and Hong Kong, customs agents held a black list and denied the entrance of Falun Gong practitioners on the list; and now, the Hong Kong police have groundlessly made accusations against Falun Gong practitioners. All of these facts reveal that Jiang's evil reach has been extended to overseas. In the statement, practitioners also appealed, "President Bush should cancel his invitation to Jiang Zemin to visit the Unite States until China gives people back their human rights, relinquishes its control over the media and stops the harassment of people in other countries."
A middle school student described how she was detained at Iceland's border when she went there for a peaceful appeal. The student's father, a U.S. citizen, was also denied boarding the flight by Icelandair at the Boston-Logan International Airport. She asked in her statement, "How could the Icelandic government, which is well-known for its democracy, not consider its nation's reputation and give in to Jiang's brazen demand? If today, in my country - the United States of America - people are named on a black list just because they practice Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, what will happen tomorrow?"
Later the spokesman for Falun Gong displayed pictures and video footage to show in detail the peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese Liaison Office, during which 16 practitioners, including four Swiss citizens who were protesting against Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong, were forcibly taken away and accused of "obstruction" and "assaulting police." The on-site video footage clearly showed that "obstruction" and "assaulting police" were purely groundless accusations, and that Falun Dafa practitioners were simply conducting a peaceful appeal according to rights granted to them by the "basic law" of Hong Kong. Finally, the spokesman appealed to the international community, asking them to work together to put an end to this political trial in Hong Kong, thus protecting the Hong Kong citizens' lawful rights and freedom of belief, speech, and assembly."
Media such as the World Journal and the Epoch Times were present and conducted interviews.