Pressing the majority of his colleagues to split hairs, Chris Daly is calling for a condemnation of the Chinese government to end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
"Now, more than ever, I'm concerned with international human rights issues," Daly said before the Board of Supervisors meeting Monday. "From what I've read and seen, this is one of the more serious human rights issues going on right now."
Daly noted that the Chinese government has arrested more than 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners.
At least 286 Falun Gong members are known to have died in police custody, while more than 100 people are being held in mental institutions and tens of thousands remain in labor camps.
At Monday's board meeting, a large contingent of Falun Gong practitioners showed up at the board's chamber to voice their concerns.
Sherry Zhang, Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Information Center spokeswoman, equated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with daily occurrences of persecution in China.
That persecution even touches the Bay Area, she said, where representatives from the Chinese government harass Falun Gong members, photograph them and record their names while they practice at local parks.
The Bay Area is home to dozens of Falun Gong groups that practice regularly in Golden Gate Park and local BART stations. Every morning, a small group meditates by the trees in front of City Hall. They say they are cultivating energy and that their exercises keep them healthy.
Zhang says the exercises also encompass a mental and moral philosophy promoting the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.
She says the sheer mass of Falun Gong practitioners -- estimated at 70 million to 100 million worldwide -- threatens the Chinese government.
Though the protesters say their issue is separate from the 2008 Olympics, Zhang says she was dismayed at the Chinese government's behavior after it won the bid.
"They promised the International Olympic Committee they'd improve human rights," she said, "but it's almost as if they took it as a license to kill."
Zhang said some inside sources from the Chinese government say the death toll of Falun Gong practitioners may actually be closer to 1,000.
The Falun Dafa Information Center issued a recent report that police detained a 32-year-old woman from northeast China and tortured her for six days for refusing to renounce the practice before throwing her to her death from a fourth-story window.
Last week, six Falun Gong practitioners made a 900-mile trek from Seattle to San Francisco to call attention to their plight.
They are particularly concerned about the life of New York acupuncturist Chunyan Teng, who was sentenced to three years in prison for divulging details to Western journalists of Falun Gong practitioners allegedly abused in mental institutions.
In July 1999, the mayor's office prepared a proclamation supporting Falun Gong practitioners when the crackdowns first began in July 1999, but later rescinded it because of its controversial nature.
"As a policy, the mayor's office does not get involved with the civic policies of foreign countries," mayor spokesman Ron Vinson said.
Supervisor Leland Yee, who authored the resolution commending Beijing for winning the 2008 Olympics bid, said he would reserve comment until learning more details of Daly's resolution.
"Of course, I think all of us want to ensure that human rights are protected," Yee said. "It's a rock-bottom for all Americans."
http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.daly.1002w
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Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
