TORONTO—Chinese communist leader Hu Jintao arrived in Toronto Saturday amid large protests, skirting protesters by entering his hotel via the underground parking garage.
Outside the hotel, hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners appealed for an end to the more than six year persecution of their faith in China.
“We call on all levels of government to uphold the integrity of Canada and strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party on the persecution of Falun Gong,” said Joel Chipkar, a spokesperson for the group.
Since then-communist boss Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, at least 2781 have been persecuted to death by Chinese authorities for their belief in the practice, according to the Clearwisdom.net website.
Many thousands of others have faced torture or have been sentenced to prison terms or forced labour.
Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, who was scheduled to join Hu on his trip to Canada, was notably missing from the delegation after Falun Gong supporters called on Canadian authorities to bar him because of his role in the torture deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Dalian City, where he was previously mayor.
