- An Open Letter was Handed Over, But Not Accepted. Houston- On September 29th, about 40 Falun Gong practitioners from Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio appealed in front of the Chinese Consulate in Houston by doing group practice. They wanted to "Call on the Chinese government to stop the brutal persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin, etc." From 9am in the morning, Falun Gong practitioners began to gather in front of the Chinese Consulate. They placed their cushions on the grass by the street and did group exercises, following the music from a tape player. Officers in plainclothes were watching them from the corner of the street. Petition contact, X (name withheld), said that Falun Gong practitioners all over the United States are performing group practices in front of Chinese Embassies or Consulates. He handed over a petition titled "An open letter to the Chinese Government from all Falun Gong Practitioners in North America". He said this open letter had been faxed to the Chinese Consulate in Houston ahead of time. He also went there in person and tried to hand it in, but the consulate did not accept it. Among these Falun Gong practitioners who took part in the petitioning by doing group practice, several claimed that their relatives in mainland China had been detained due to practicing Falun Gong. X (name witheld) a Ph.D. graduate student from the University of XX, said that his mother had been detained in a mental hospital and forced to take medicines and receive injections. He visited his mother and wanted to bring her abroad. The doctors agreed but the police denied him. X (name withheld)i, an employee of XX, said her mother had been detained in an Against Addicts Institute for more than one month for not giving up practicing Falun Gong. A practitioner from the University of XX would not tell his name due to pressure. He said his mother, who lived in Shandong Province, had been to Beijing to appeal and sent back by the police. She was forced to pay around 4,000 to 5,000 RMB (about $500-600) in fees and fines. Associate Professor (name witheld) at XX Medical School said that, after staying abroad for over 10 years, she went back Shenzhen last December. Several days later during midnight, she was brought in by the police for interrogation and then detained for 13 days. X (name withheld) who works in Chinese Herbal Pharmacy in X said that some officers in the Chinese Consulate used to see doctors there, but they came back after learning he was a Falun Gong practitioner. All practitioners in the petition emphasized that they were there to petition, not demonstrate or protest. They wanted to express their concerns to the Chinese Consulate, and hoped the Chinese Consulate would report to the Chinese Government that it was wrong to suppress Falun Gong. The whole petition event had no slogans, except several banners with words criticizing Jiang Zemin held up in the air by a big balloon. Falun Gong practitioners also carried some small banners to express their objections over the persecution of Falun Gong. (Editors note: Names withheld so as not to cause undue harm to overseas practitioners)
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