06/20/03

AURORA -- Bearing a banner urging Americans to get involved in freeing one of their own who is imprisoned in China, followers of the Falun Gong movement held press conferences Thursday outside city halls in Aurora, Geneva and other towns throughout Illinois.

"They liked our banner in Geneva," said Falun Gong practitioner Sara Effner. "It matched the Swedish Days colors."

Falun Gong followers believe its philosophies and slow-motion mediation promote good health and moral living.

Effner's husband, Chen Hou, originally from China but now pursuing his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Missouri, demonstrated the group's meditation technique outside Aurora City Hall.

Meeting with news reporters, passersby and other followers, the followers explained they were raising awareness about persecution of their group in China, as well as spreading the word about the 2003 Midwest Falun Gong Conference, scheduled today and Saturday at Federal Plaza in Chicago.

The two-day schedule includes traditional Chinese music and dance, as well as a rally with speakers testifying to the harassment and torture of this group by the Chinese government.

Chief on the group's agenda is the freedom of U.S. citizen Dr. Charles Li, an alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who has been imprisoned by the Chinese government since Jan. 22, according to members of the Falun Gong.

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Some 100,000 people have been arrested without warrant in China for practicing Falun Gong, according to Effner, and many have been beaten, tortured or killed.

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There are an estimated 100 million members worldwide, including some 70 million in China. Falun Gong members say their sheer numbers are what scares the Chinese government so much.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/city/a20falungon.htm