Crashing a taxi into a 72-year-old woman would be a strong enough deterrent for some. But Mrs. Lin, a practitioner of Falun Gong who has sat outside the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok most days since about 2005, thought not much of it. After her legs recovered she was soon back out there.
She has been harassed, beaten, and had her protest banners repeatedly stolen, but still she comes.
Mrs. Lin, originally from Taiwan, is an adherent of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice consisting of slow moving exercise, meditation, and a teaching of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. It has been persecuted in China since 1999, and that persecution is the object of Mrs. Lin’s protests.
Her banners appear to have made the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok quite nervous. In August of last year, a taxi struck her, apparently on purpose, while she was sitting on the ground meditating, injuring both of her legs.
A few weeks later, a man dressed in black cursed Mrs. Lin and stole her banner. He told her her not to put up banners any more, and then sped off on his motorcycle.
On Oct. 7, Mrs. Lin was attacked again by a group of men who beat her with a steel pipe and fractured her right arm. They also stole her banner.
