FLUSHING, New York City—Those who had attacked Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing have resorted to different tactics to target the spiritual practice.
On August 2, a table to distribute hate materials and gather signatures against Falun Gong was set up on the corner of Main Street and Sanford Avenue. The group behind the table consists of many who had previously been arrested on the streets of Flushing for allegedly physically attacking Falun Gong practitioners. The group calls itself the Chinese Descent Civil Rights Research of New York, U.S.A. Corp. and the Chinese Descent Civil Rights Institute of New York U.S.A. (CCRI.USA).
Out of the at least 4 people seen working at the table on August 2, two of them were identified as having previously been arrested for attacking Falun Gong practitioners or having taken part in other anti-Falun Gong activities.
The men operating the table were John Yang, who had been arrested on May 23 with charges of harassment in the second degree and assault with intention to cause physical injury, and Huahong Li, who had been arrested on May 21 with charges of disorderly conduct, fighting, and violent behavior.
The attacks against Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing began on May 17 when a group of hundreds of pro-communists, attacked, spat on, tore banners, and threatened Falun Gong practitioners with death. One document distributed at the group’s table defends the attackers, claiming that police, “didn’t enforce the law” and “drove innocent people out of the street and arrested them for no good reason.”
Terri Marsh, human rights lawyer and Executive director of Human Rights Law Foundation, stated that allowing such a booth to be established in Flushing was of poor judgment. “I think it’s very unfortunate, and I hope that this booth that the police have permitted to be established is not going to be used to continue to perpetrate violent criminal conduct and hate crimes against the Falun Gong religion,” said Marsh.
“In my opinion, as a human rights attorney, by putting a booth allowing an association that has clear ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and clear ties to the assaults that have been ongoing and the hate crimes that have been ongoing for the last six to eight weeks in Flushing and Brooklyn; to put a booth across the street in close proximity to where people have been assaulted, to me, is unwise, not rational, and not in service of people who live in Flushing and Brooklyn,” said Marsh.
Marsh continued, explaining the rights granted by the First Amendment. “The First Amendment which gives people freedom of speech and press and religion in this country is part of the founding principles of the United States,” said Marsh. “However, it’s important to understand that freedom of speech is not unlimited as there are limits to freedom of speech.”
“You can’t scream ‘Fire’ in a crowded theatre,” said Marsh. “You can’t incite violence; you can’t use your voice to tell other people to be violent towards other people. You can’t use words to incite criminal conduct. You can’t use words or speech to aid and abet and promote criminal conduct. And those principles are well established principles in United States federal law.”
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