Selective squelching and beating of one group of peaceful protesters cast a shadow on Chinese president Hu Jintao’s visit to Argentina on November 16.

Hu’s official visit came a day after Argentine officials announced plans by Chinese businesses to invest $19.7 billion over 10 years in the country—good news in a country still recovering from the 2001-02 economic crisis.

But apparent pressure from Chinese embassy officials in Buenos Aires resulted in police wrestling banners away from a group of Falun Gong practitioners peacefully standing in a park opposite the Hilton Hotel where Hu was staying. A Chinese military attaché was observed heatedly talking alternately on a cell phone and then to police shortly before the police moved to dim the silent protest.

According to Buenos Aires resident and Falun Gong practitioner Liwei Klemann, passersby wondered aloud why the police were not taking action against a much larger group of people at the Hilton who were protesting the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The most violent incident took place shortly before Hu was to leave the hotel around 5:00 p.m. Thirty or more Chinese men appeared from inside the hotel and crossed the street to sit in the park. Police initially kept them separate from the Falun Gong group, but then withdrew, allowing the 30 men to swarm and surround the Falun Gong group.

The men pushed and shoved the Falun Gong group around and either stole the banners or cut them up with knives. One Falun Gong practitioner was bitten on the arm. Four who were beaten up later said they would press charges in federal court. Additional incidents of interference with their peaceful activities occurred before Hu left.

Klemann said the banners contained messages asking that former leader Jiang Zemin be prosecuted for crimes against humanity or that Falun Gong be legally restored in China. None of the messages were anti-Hu or anti-China.

The Washington Post, CNN, the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDI), and other media have reported that the persecution of Falun Gong was clearly the brainchild and policy of Jiang. Hu Jintao has not been known, in his two years as president, to have stated a position one way or another on the ongoing suppression campaign against the spiritual group.

“This incident is unfortunately just the latest in a string of incidents in which Chinese officials have been behind illegal and sometimes violent mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners outside China,” said FDI spokesperson Levi Browde. “Actions linked to communist officials have been documented in more than 30 countries on every continent.”

Examples cited on the faluninfo.net web site include a Hu Jintao visit to Paris in January. 70 people wearing clothing that was yellow or contained the words “Falun Gong” were whisked away from the Champs d’Elysees and detained by French police, apparently at the direction of Chinese officials.

Also, in South Africa in June, a Falun Gong practitioner was shot and wounded on his way to attempting to initiate a lawsuit against two visiting Chinese officials. FDI points to the attempted murder as being instigated by the officials.

In June 2003 in New York, people closely connected to the Chinese consulate surrounded and assaulted a small group of Falun Gong practitioners holding signs outside a banquet attended by the Chinese UN ambassador and the consul general. Witnesses report that attackers shouted, “If you are Falun Gong, I will beat you to death!”

In Argentina before Hu’s visit, a Chinese embassy official, Cultural Attaché Zhang Yi, screamed a death threat at one Falun Gong practitioner and was otherwise hostile toward Falun Gong.

The U.S. House passed a resolution this year calling for an investigation into the harassment and rights violations committed by Chinese agents and consular officials against Falun Gong practitioners on U.S. soil.

Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese meditation and spiritual practice, has been banned and severely persecuted inside China since 1999. Numerous governments and non-governmental organizations have condemned the harassment, torture, incarceration, and killings of non-violent Falun Gong practitioners in China.