July 21, 2003

Central News Agency web site

Kaohsiung, 20 July: At least 1,000 Taiwanese Falun Gong followers took to the streets Sunday afternoon (20 July) in the southern port city of Kaohsiung in support of their fellow practitioners in mainland China.

The demonstrators called on the international community to help stop Beijing's persecution of mainland Chinese Falun Gong practitioners.

The street march, dubbed "A Global Public Trial of Jiang Zemin," was organized by the Taiwan Falun Dafa Association. The Falun Gong meditation group is banned in mainland China. Prior to the demonstration, several association members performed a play to accuse former mainland Chinese President Jiang of having persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China.

Falun Dafa Association chairman Chang Ching-hsi said that Jiang personally issued a directive for the establishment of a special office with the aim of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners on the mainland. He added that the Beijing authorities have deprived millions of Falun Gong followers of their religious rights and many even of their lives by resorting to various atrocious means.

The Taiwan Falun Gong group brought a lawsuit against Jiang last October in seven US federal district courts, accusing him of several offences including torture, genocide, and crimes against humanity, Chang noted, adding that more than 200,000 people have signed their names to support the movement of bringing Jiang to a global public trial.

He called on people around the world to join their efforts to put strong international pressure on Beijing to force it to stop suppressing Falun Gong followers on the mainland.

[The Jiang's regime persecute Falun Gong since July 1999]. Since then, hundreds have been killed or sentenced illegally to prison terms, while tens of thousands of others have been sent to re-education camps or detained.