Washington, D.C.—Facts and evidences of the series of ongoing organized assaults since May 17 on Falun Gong practitioners distributing The Epoch Times newspapers and The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in Flushing, New York, were presented at a press conference at Rayburn building on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, June 11, the Washington Bureau of The Epoch Times, the Global Service Center to Quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Washington Forum.
A spokeswoman from the office of U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) attended the press conference. She said, congressman Bilirakis will continue supporting freedom of belief, especially the freedom for Falun Gong practitioners for their belief, as well as all that are suppressed by CCP. She continued, it is a pity that this event happened in the U.S. We will continue calling on the State Dept and Dept of Justice to investigate involvement of Chinese consulates in intimidating Americans on U.S. soil.
According to Epoch Times Editor in Chief Ms. Guo Jun, the series of assaults in Flushing appear to be a premeditated and orchestrated plot by the Chinese Communist regime to libel Falun Gong in its carefully edited footage of the assaults.
China's official media shot and edited the footage of the assaults and then ran the footages in China, claiming the attacks were justifiable, spontaneous responses to Falun Gong practitioners' disruptions to the earthquake relief donation activities in Flushing. The activities, as Guo Jun explained, were nonexistent. However, China's official media repeatedly ran the fraudulent reports on their websites and YouTube.
Reporters of The Epoch Times, Guo Jun said, received tips that pro-Communist activists planned to hire people to wear yellow T-shirts printed with the words "Falun Gong" and have them knock down elderly people and pregnant women while the TV camera from SinoVision Inc. was rolling. Guo Jun told of a Falun Gong practitioner who was approached by a thug who tried to strike a bargain. The thug said, "If Falun Gong offers me $100 a day, I will switch sides right away and curse the Chinese Communist Party for you."
A Falun Gong practitioner mingling with a group of hired thugs in Flushing received a sheet of "special instructions," which specifically require the hired assaults to berate Falun Gong practitioners. According to the instructions, each person "must tear down materials or The Epoch Times newspapers offered by Falun Gong practitioners and throw them in their faces or at their heads."
In the three weeks since the first assault in Flushing on May 17, the hired thugs have been repeatedly witnessed throwing The Epoch Times newspapers into trash cans, and spitting phlegm into trash cans when practitioners attempted to pick up the newspapers from trash cans.
Ms. Guo Jun described how Epoch Times photographer Mr. Yu Wenzhong was physically attacked and had to be sent to the hospital with a lacerated ear. Multiple eyewitnesses heard the attacker shouting, "Without the protection of the police, we would have beaten you to death."
Several bureaus of The Epoch Times in different parts of the world have received death threats.
On June 7, Ms. Zhang Qian, a newspaper delivery person for the Warsaw bureau of The Epoch Times was repeatedly assaulted by a woman in Warsaw while she was distributing the newspapers. Ms. Zhang was injured when she tried to protect Epoch Times newspapers, which were grabbed and torn by the assailant that made death threat on her.
On May 30, the Chicago bureau of The Epoch Times called 911 after receiving a threatening letter, containing white powder, a copy of The Epoch Times newspaper featuring the assaults in Flushing, as well as the handwritten message, "Long Live Communist Party" and "End of Falun Gong." Guo Jun said that Beijing faces a tremendous level of public criticism in China because it concealed the many earthquake forecasts about Sichuan and denied foreign rescue teams within the most critical 72 hours after the earthquake: so, Beijing is very intent on exploiting the tragedy of the earthquake and its emotional aftermath to stigmatize and attack Falun Gong.
Mr. Xia Yiyang, a representative from World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), summarized a report, "Investigative Report on the Control of Overseas Chinese and the Implementation of Global United Front Work Strategy by the Chinese Communist Regime."
Dr. Pang Yubin, a representative from Washington Forum, announced the initial report on the assaults in Flushing. Dr. Pang says that Secretary of China's Law and Politics Committee Zhou Yongkang uses special agents in China and overseas extensions of China's intelligence organizations, such as student and scholar associations and Chinese compatriot associations, to pretend to be students, overseas Chinese, people who sympathizes Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners on students' email lists, on China's media in order to spread fraudulent lies that Falun Gong refuse to donate money to the earthquake relief.
Dr. Pang added that Beijing's special agents pretend to be Falun Gong practitioners or people who sympathize Falun Gong on the Internet in order to spread lies. These impersonators share story, that they had sympathy for Falun Gong in the past, but they now change their attitude because this time Falun Gong has gone too far.
Dr. Pang says that in the internal training for special agents, agents were told that the impersonation tactic works the best because it will definitely get Falun Gong practitioners' attention and confuse people.
Assault footage in Flushing was shown at the press conference.
Ms. Judy Chen is one of the victims assaulted in Flushing. "I am sad when I watched the footage. It reminds me of those Falun Gong practitioners suffering from the persecution in China, especially those practitioners that have been killed for organ harvesting," Ms. Chen said.
"A scene like this was unknown to me in this free country. I was truly terrified. All of sudden hundreds of people shouting, berating and attacking us while waving PRC's red flags. While looking at those faces overwhelmed with hatred, I wondered if I had done anything wrong. For the past four years, my husband and I have been working as volunteers at the quit-CCP service center in Flushing. We transport and deliver materials to the service center. We distribute materials on the streets and help those who wish to quit the CCP to do so," Ms. Chen said.
At the press conference, Ms. Judy Chen called upon President Bush to stop Beijing from spreading hatred on U.S. soil.
"My son fights in Iraq to protect the United States. But what is going on inside the United States?" Ms. Chen questioned.
Chip Byers, a Washington, D.C.-based commander for Sons of the American Legion, said that they normally do not show up and say something in this kind of situation, but when they see Ms. Chen, when her sons are safeguarding this country while a foreign government sent special agents to attack their mom, this alerted them, and they cannot accept it. These agents are attacking the mom of two heroes that serve our country, he said.
He said to Chen that she is an American hero, and she stand up to safeguard truth and justice in an American way.
He said that it is a shame that President Bush will attend the Olympics and sit together with the leaders of that country.
Mr. Ye Ning, a renowned human rights attorney practicing in Washington, D.C. and New York, said that he has personally witnessed the frantic mobs accosting Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing.
"When I passed by the Queens Library in Flushing, I saw Falun Gong practitioners holding banners and photographs of their fellow practitioners dying of tortures in China. They were very serene and quiet. Across the street was a large group of Chinese sticking out their middle fingers," Mr. Ye said.
CCP Incites Flushing Mobs 
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