VANCOUVER—Drivers along Granville St. in Vancouver have become accustomed to a unique sight — a blue shelter and a row of large display boards outside the Chinese consulate where Falun Gong practitioners have been holding a round-the-clock peaceful appeal.
In an effort to raise awareness and urge the Chinese regime to bring an end to its persecution of their counterparts in China, the Falun Gong have maintained a 24/7 vigil at the site since August 2001.
On one of the signs affixed to the consulate fence are two constantly increasing numbers: the amount of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death since the persecution was launched in July 1999 and the number of days the protest has been in existence.
“Through this window, this site, more and more Canadian people were able to know about the genocide happening in China,” said Christine Cao, the shift coordinator for the site.
“It is also [a site] that Chinese tourists view when they come to Vancouver, which is very important since it is a window that cannot be seen and a voice that cannot be heard inside China.”
However, the long-running appeal may now be in jeopardy. Due to a bylaw enforced by the City of Vancouver forbidding structures on private property without a permit, practitioners were ordered to remove the shelter and signs in August 2006.
The Falun Gong disputed this, saying they were initially given verbal permission by the city to hold the 24/7 vigil, and a hearing is scheduled at the B.C. Supreme Court for five days beginning Nov. 3.
Clive Ansley, a lawyer in the Falun Gong’s legal team, said one of the City’s arguments that the site has simply been there long enough and the time has come to remove it doesn’t hold water.
“I think the part that’s significant about this protest is that genocide is still occurring, organ harvesting is still occurring, torture is still occurring in China, so by definition the protests haven’t been there long enough. Until torture stops and until forced organ harvesting stops and until genocide stops, the protest must continue, it must be there.”
Ansley said there’s no doubt that pressure from Chinese consular officials has played a big part in the City’s decision to try to remove the protest.
“There’s no question at all that the consul general in Vancouver and the embassy in Ottawa have pulled out absolutely all the stops — they’ve taken every possible action to put pressure on Canadian politicians to end this vigil,” he said.
In an effort to raise awareness and urge the Chinese regime to bring an end to its persecution of their counterparts in China, the Falun Gong have maintained a 24/7 vigil at the site since August 2001.
On one of the signs affixed to the consulate fence are two constantly increasing numbers: the amount of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death since the persecution was launched in July 1999 and the number of days the protest has been in existence.
“Through this window, this site, more and more Canadian people were able to know about the genocide happening in China,” said Christine Cao, the shift coordinator for the site.
“It is also [a site] that Chinese tourists view when they come to Vancouver, which is very important since it is a window that cannot be seen and a voice that cannot be heard inside China.”
However, the long-running appeal may now be in jeopardy. Due to a bylaw enforced by the City of Vancouver forbidding structures on private property without a permit, practitioners were ordered to remove the shelter and signs in August 2006.
The Falun Gong disputed this, saying they were initially given verbal permission by the city to hold the 24/7 vigil, and a hearing is scheduled at the B.C. Supreme Court for five days beginning Nov. 3.
Clive Ansley, a lawyer in the Falun Gong’s legal team, said one of the City’s arguments that the site has simply been there long enough and the time has come to remove it doesn’t hold water.
“I think the part that’s significant about this protest is that genocide is still occurring, organ harvesting is still occurring, torture is still occurring in China, so by definition the protests haven’t been there long enough. Until torture stops and until forced organ harvesting stops and until genocide stops, the protest must continue, it must be there.”
Ansley said there’s no doubt that pressure from Chinese consular officials has played a big part in the City’s decision to try to remove the protest.
“There’s no question at all that the consul general in Vancouver and the embassy in Ottawa have pulled out absolutely all the stops — they’ve taken every possible action to put pressure on Canadian politicians to end this vigil,” he said.
