(Clearwisdom.net, October 13, 2005) At noon on October 12, 2005, practitioners in Washington DC held a press conference in front of the Chinese Embassy to call for an end to the recent new wave of arrests in China. At the conference, practitioners read the "Falun Dafa Association Announcement". (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/10/9/65726.html)

Many Chinese and English media covered the event.

Venue of Press Conference

Practitioner Mr. Zhang stated that recently, many "illegal arrests" of Falun Gong practitioners have occurred in Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, Liaoning Province, Beijing, Hebei Province, Shandong Province, Ningxia, Anhui Province and Guangdong Province. Death cases of practitioners due to torture have been disclosed continuously. These are new crimes committed by the Chinese Communist Regime (CCP). The instigators of the crimes are members of former dictator Jiang's faction: Zeng Qinghong and Luo Gan.

Ms. Weixun Li, who was rescued to the USA with the help of the US Congress, State Department and other non-governmental organizations, gave a speech on her suffering in China. She said, "For persisting in my belief in Truth, Compassion, Tolerance, and clarifying the truth to the world's people, I was arrested and sent to prison. I was tortured both physically and mentally. My family was broken up. My brother was sentenced to prison for helping innocent Falun Gong practitioners, and he is till imprisoned."

She further pointed out, "What I suffered is just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted. During the last six-years of peaceful resistance, Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have suffered immense hardships, but continued to explain the facts to the world's people, and have helped many Chinese people to awaken. Many people refused to participate in the persecution after learning the truth. My rescue to America is a witness to the power of truth. It is the righteous act of the international community after learning the facts of Falun Gong."

Practitioner Ms. Ge gives a speech

Practitioner Ms. Ge said, "Since Jiang Zemin initiated the bloody persecution on July 20, 1999, practitioners in Washington DC have kept clarifying the truth in front of the Chinese Embassy every day, including in the cold winter and hot summer, and on rainy or windy days. Six years have passed and western people now know the facts about Falun Gong. The persecution of Falun Gong is doomed to fail. In over a dozen countries, Jiang Zemin, Zeng Qinghong, Luo Gan and other culprits in the persecution have been sued in courts. We practitioners in Washington DC would like to tell those who are still following Jiang, Zeng or Luo in the persecution to stop committing crimes immediately."

At the press conference, practitioners read the announcement of the Falun Dafa Association on October 9 in both English and Chinese.

The announcement states, "At this critical historical moment, the Falun Dafa Association has made a special announcement: From today on, overseas Falun Gong practitioners will file civil or criminal lawsuits against all important government or CCP officials who participate in or continue to implement the persecution of Falun Gong and as a result, commit new crimes in addition to those they have already perpetrated against Falun Gong."

For those Chinese officials who participated in the persecution in the past but want to correct their mistakes, the announcement states, "Even for those who have committed wrongdoings, there is still an opportunity for them to abandon the evil path and choose to be good. For all those who have committed crimes against Falun Gong but want now to correct their mistakes, they can submit, under safe circumstances, a guarantee statement or regret letter to Minghui (Clearwisdom Net) or to any regional Falun Dafa Association to be archived. We will not investigate the various crimes of those who are determined to correct their mistakes. However we will continue to monitor their actions."

Many media cover the event

The press conference captured the attention of many media in Washington DC. Reporters from New Tang Dynasty TV, UPI, Sound of Hope, AFP, Radio Free Asia, and The Epoch Times covered the event.