(January 13, 2003) Nearly 50 Falun Gong practitioners from the Washington, D.C. area staged a peaceful, midday appeal in front of the Chinese Embassy in northwest Washington today. The gathering was part of a global call to action designed to raise awareness about the intensified persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China. According to Tao Wang, 43 practitioners have been confirmed killed in various detention centers just since November 2002. Practitioners also shared their families' personal experiences since the Jiang regime outlawed Falun Gong in July 1999.

Northern Virginia resident Ms. Tiny Hong movingly described not being able to attend her father's funeral in July 2002 or console her mother in person because both she and her mother are Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Hong's mother was first arrested in October 2001 at a train station in Beijing when she refused to denounce her belief in Falun Gong and defame founder Li Hongzhi. During the Communist Party's 16^th Congress in November 2002, she was detained and held incommunicado for several days at a brainwashing camp. Currently, she is unable to leave her hometown.

Although Ms. Jin Wei was unable to attend today's appeal, she recounted the story of her aunt's experience as a Falun Gong practitioner persecuted in China in a statement read by Ms. Cailing Ling. Ms. Wei described how her aunt, Jingzhen Li, overcame personal hardships and various illnesses after she began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. She traced Ms. Li's troubles to the beginning of the persecution when she was first arrested for appealing to the government. Because she continued to tell others of the benefits of Falun Gong, Ms. Li was most recently arrested and detained in September 2002; her family has not heard from her since then. They have been told that she is serving a one-year sentence at the notorious Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp in Changchun.

"I know tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners like my aunt are being persecuted for their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. I urge the U.S. government, media and all kind-hearted people around the world to pay attention to this persecution," Ms. Ling read.

Other practitioners demonstrated the five sets of graceful Falun Gong exercises and displayed banners clearly visible by those passing by the busy thoroughfare where the Embassy is located.