Tuesday, July 18, 2000
Fresh assault on sect
leader
VIVIEN PIK-KWAN CHAN
Authorities have renewed the propaganda war against the banned Falun
Gong sect ahead of the anniversary of the national crackdown in July
last year as state media slammed the group's exiled leader as "a
flunky of Western hostile forces".
Public security departments have learned the sect plans to
organise mass demonstrations to mark the start of the crackdown on
the spiritual movement which started on July 22 last year. Central
and provincial governments have been urged to step up surveillance
to head-off possible instability, Beijing sources said.
More plain-clothes police officers have been deployed in and
around Tiananmen Square to tighten security ahead of the anniversary
of the crackdown when 1,000 Falun Gong activists were arrested in
various provinces.
There have been constant reports of police detaining mostly
elderly Falun Gong devotees from distant provinces, who are risking
arrest and possible beatings to plead for a reversal of the
Government's ban. Police are convinced of a possible "showdown" by
"hardcore" followers after the group's exiled leader, Li Hongzhi,
recently called on practitioners to keep up their fight to "defend
the practice" in a Web site message to them.
Mr Li likened persecution of the group to university entrance
exams. He called on followers to be "sober-minded" and continue to
practise "cultivation".
A Xinhua commentary yesterday attacked Mr Li for spreading
rumours to incite followers into "fighting a death struggle". The
article accused Mr Li of maliciously attacking the Communist Party
leadership and the socialist system, saying his move had exposed the
fact he was a "flunky of Western hostile forces".
"Li has been trapped in predicament and is fighting a death
struggle," Xinhua said.
Despite the year-long arrests and heavy-handed propaganda,
authorities still see no end to the defiant Falun Gong struggle.
The campaign has stopped the further growth of Falun Gong but it
has led to the formation of a hard core of believers who are proving
hard to deal with. Beijing is concerned that Western governments
have criticised the crackdown as a human rights violation.
China has labelled Falun Gong an "evil cult" and blamed it for
causing 1,500 deaths by suicide or refusal of medical care.
At least 5,000 members have been sent to labour camps or
"psychiatric rehabilitation" centres without trial and others have
been sentenced to up to 18 years in prison after show trials,
according to the banned group. |
