[Clearwisdom.net] "World Daily" journalist Lin Qianxiu reported from New York: Yesterday (January 23, the Chinese New Year's eve) evening, Falun Gong practitioners staged a vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate to appeal for those detained fellows who could not be united with their families in China. On the way to practice the Falun Gong exercises, these New York practitioners heard news that some Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire at Tiananmen Square. However they were suspicious of it, because Falun Gong opposes suicide, and setting oneself on fire is against the cultivation principles. Therefore it is impossible.

Several practitioners who just came from China said that when they called their families in China, they were told some strange things. Recently police have been arresting Falun Gong practitioners on a larger and larger scale everywhere. Many jails are beyond their limits, so they have consequently released some inmates. Practitioners point out that this could be an aggressive strategy of the leaders in Beijing, as they might be worried that there could be a large-scale appeal by Falun Gong practitioners from the whole country during the Chinese Spring Festival.

Falun Dafa Information Center in the United States declared yesterday that the so-called "self-burning" reported by Xinhua News Agency is nothing but a propaganda trick of the Beijing government to frame Falun Dafa, and all countries should be aware of this. The declaration said that Falun Gong practitioners oppose any kind of suicide, not to mention treating their own lives so cruelly.

The exercise group maintained about 40 to 50 practitioners, and they exercised together on the sidewalk in front of the Chinese consulate from noon until 10 p.m.