Melbourne Yarra Leader (Australia) Reports on Falun Gong Practitioners' Appeal during Tianjin Mayor's Visit to Melbourne

May 30, 2005 Monday

According to a Melbourne Yarra Leader report on May 30, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners held a protest last Tuesday night during Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong's four-day tour of Melbourne

The report said that practitioners of the Falun Dafa Association of Victoria gathered outside the Melbourne Town Hall as Mr. Dai made his way in for the council meeting.

The protesters were waving signs and banners calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong meditation practitioners in Tianjin, China.

The association presented a petition to the council calling on it to ask the Tianjin mayor to stop persecuting its fellow practitioners.

The report stated, in the petition, the association claimed that 33 Falun Gong practitioners had died of torture in Tianjin since Mr. Xianglong became Deputy Mayor in December 2002.

According to the report, NSW resident Ying Li was among the protesters. She said her 34-year-old brother, Liang Li, was in a labor camp in Tianjin because he practiced Falun Gong.

Ms. Li, 41, and still a Falun Gong practitioner, said she also spent two years in a forced labor camp when she was living in Tianjin but was released thanks to the efforts of her husband, an Australian citizen.