Group Linked to Genocide Marches in Lunar New Year Parade

FLUSHING, New York City—The day had a cold wind that chilled to the bone, yet onlookers still gathered to line the sidewalks of Main Street in Flushing, Queens, to see the Lunar New Year Parade. Chinese lion teams danced down the streets, followed closely by drums and a gong that rang through the air—a sign that the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) of the Ox has arrived.

Flushing, the largest Chinese community in New York, held its 14th annual Lunar New Year parade on Saturday. Attending this year was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who marched with the estimated 4,000 people from Union Street and circling around to Main Street.

The day was not all fun and joy, though. A group that launched a campaign of violence and propaganda in May 2008 against adherents of the Chinese meditation practice Falun Gong, was also allowed to participate. The group, which calls itself the “Anti-Cult Association” (ACA), has seen many of its members arrested by police for their attacks against Falun Gong adherents. At least a dozen people have been arrested for their attacks since last May.

The vice president and general secretary of the ACA in China, Wang Yusheng, is being sued for torture and genocide. He used to attend U.N. meetings to spread propaganda against Falun Gong, however in 2004, the Geneva State procurator accepted a lawsuit against him. Seven lawyers submitted six criminal lawsuits to a procurator on behalf of different Falun Gong practitioners who had suffered torture in China. They asked the procurator to arrest Wang Yusheng and conduct the necessary investigations. Another lawyer submitted a condemnation to the U.N. as well as the Swiss Embassy. Yusheng has since discontinued his attendance of U.N. meetings.

According to a report by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, “The Chinese Anti-Cult Association uses its members’ religious or academic status to propose the means to suppress Falun Gong, invent theories against Falun Gong, and directly participate in various persecution activities such as ’transforming' [brainwashing] Falun Gong practitioners.”

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is among the most popular of China’s meditation practices. The practice is always taught for free and is based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was banned by the ruling communist regime in China in 1999 due to fear of the practice’s growing popularity. The persecution was accompanied by a massive propaganda campaign, in which the ACA has played a major role.

In Flushing, the ACA has taken on similar role as it does in China and makes a daily practice of spreading hate-propaganda against Falun Gong from a table set up along Main Street. A recorded phone interview also revealed that the New York Chinese Consul General played a hand in organizing their attacks against Falun Gong adherents last May.

Neng Wang from the parade committee said that it was a difficult decision to let them into the parade. “It’s not my personal decision,” he said on the Friday before the parade. “Also, we had a meeting with the 109th Precinct and they said they are aware of this and will send an extra force to watch out.”
    
In order to participate, the ACA had to agree to strict requirements, including a ban on any banners other than one that displayed their organization’s name. According to Wang, it was also agreed that if they stepped out of line they would be immediately removed from the parade. “Before they do something wrong we cannot throw them away,” said Wang.

Seemingly ignoring their agreement, following the parade, members of the group still took an opportunity to hold derogatory banners and shout hateful slogans against Falun Gong adherents as they passed by.

Despite the harsh words, Falun Gong adherents were unmoved and had a strong presence in the parade. At least 400 Falun Gong adherents participated. One of the parade organizers, Gu Ya-ming, of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, called the Falun Dafa group the “strongest and most spectacular” of the parade.

The Tian Guo (Celestial) marching band, clad in traditional Chinese costumes, played music written by adherents of the group. A group of Chinese dancers dressed as heavenly maidens was followed closely by a colorful dragon team as well as a Tang Dynasty-style waist drum troupe.