(Clearwisdom.net) On the morning of March 15, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners in Vancouver, Canada held a rally and press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate. They protested the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing in the run-up to the Olympic Games, and strongly called on the international community to show concern.

Spokesperson for Falun Gong in Vancouver, Sophia Bronwen hosted the rally. She condemned the CCP's using the Olympics as an excuse to wantonly arrest practitioners in Beijing, escalating the persecution in a blatant violation of the Olympic spirit.

The press conference exposed the troubling fact that the CCP is using the Olympics as an excuse to escalate the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China, particularly the practitioners in Beijing.

According to an announcement by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), when the CCP was granted the privilege of hosting the Olympic Games in 2008, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has only gotten worse. The new nationwide escalation of the persecution involved 29 provinces, cities and autonomous regions all over China. From the end of last year to March 11, 2008, the documented cases of illegal arrests of Falun Gong practitioners were 1,878.

Information obtained by the Falun Dafa Information Center shows that all arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing were made in a planned and systematic way. These arrests overrode the law, and different work units and departments coordinated together. The general scenario shows the district Party committee issuing the order of arrest, and agents from the grassroots offices - community centers, residential committees - as well as police stations and detention centers, monitoring, arresting and even ransacking practitioners' homes at any time and taking pictures of their cabinets, suitcases, and drawers. They arrest the practitioners once they find any Falun Gong materials in their home.

For example, practitioner Mr. Xue Fuchun from Shunyi District, Beijing was arrested on the afternoon of January 23, 2008. The police searched his home for five hours, confiscating Falun Dafa books, truth-clarification materials, and a personal computer. During the illegal arrest, Mr. Xue had his neck fractured and he passed out immediately. He was taken to the Shunyi District Hospital. Due to the severity of the injury, the officers were worried about being held responsible. Mr. Xue is currently on parole at home pending investigation.

On the evening of February 22, 2008, Mr. Qi Wei, a practitioner in Chaoyang District, Beijing, was taking a stroll with his wife near their home when several plainclothes police officers apprehended them and took them to the Anzhen Police Station in Chaoyang District. Half a dozen officers then broke into their home and confiscated a notebook computer and a removable hard drive. The officers viciously beat Mr. Qi Wei when he was taken into custody. The officers from the Anzhen Police Station took Mr. Qi's cell phone, handcuffed his hands behind his back, and threatened him. After protests from Mr. Qi's family, the police released his wife early on the morning of February 23. Mr. Qi was transferred to the Chaoyang District Domestic Security Division for interrogation.

Police ransacked the Jinkui Decoration Company at Heizhuanghu Village in the Chaoyang District, Beijing on January 24, 2008. All practitioners and non-practitioners alike who were working there were arrested. They included Chen Gang, Chen Jiaolong, Yu Yajing, Wen Jiaqi, Han Ligang, Zuo Yan, Liu Yan, Su Na, Dong Tingshui, Yu Yafang, Teacher Ms. Qi and Ms. Zhang. Some of those arrested were relatives and children of Falun Gong practitioners.

At the rally, several Vancouver practitioners made speeches. They condemned the CCP's nearly nine-year-long brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners who cultivate "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." They strongly protested the CCP's using the Olympics as an excuse to blatantly violate the citizens' human rights and escalate this persecution that has never stopped during the past eight years. These human rights abuses are making a mockery of the Olympic spirit, and are once again exposing the CCP's lies about improving human rights through hosting the Olympic Games.

Ms. Wang, who came to Canada from Shenyang City this February said that the persecution of Falun Gong has been taking place all the time in China. The neighborhood committees use the Olympics as an excuse to monitor practitioners. Four practitioners she is familiar with were arrested and sentenced to imprisonment. The police arrested the practitioners in the stillness of the night, and then sent them to forced labor camps.

Another older woman who just arrived in Vancouver from Beijing was in tears during the press conference. She said that two practitioners that she knows were arrested not long ago. One of them was a mother of two children. The two children were left without care after their mother's arrest. Thinking of the harsh situation of practitioners in mainland China, she was moved to tears.

Falun Gong practitioners in Vancouver called upon the international community to be bold enough to voice their concern and shoulder their responsibility to pressure the CCP authorities to stop the brutal persecution as soon as possible.