(Prepared by Toronto Falun Gong practitioners)
The Sing Tao Daily (a major Chinese newspaper in Toronto) announced on August 4, 2001 that all overseas Chinese were welcome to attend an 'open house' to be held by an appeal delegation from the Bureau for Overseas Chinese to present their appeals. The purpose for these Chinese Officials' visit was "...to talk and to discuss with overseas groups, and answer questions from people of all backgrounds...". The 'open house' was to take place at the headquarters of the Hongmen Minzhi Party (436 Dundas St. W.) in Toronto's Chinatown from 10am to noon on August 9, 2001.
Dong Yiming, the Department Head of the Appeal Processing Office of China's National Appeal Bureau, was part of the 6-man delegation.
On Thursday August 9, some Falun Gong practitioners went to appeal for Falun Gong or appeal for their Falun Gong family members being persecuted in China.
Inside the 'open house', at around 10am, a Consular Official from the Toronto Chinese Consulate made the first speech. Later, one of the speakers announced, "Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to appeal". Ms. Haiying Liu, a Falun Gong practitioner, calmly asked, "Could you tell me, aren't Falun Gong practitioners human beings too?"
As soon as Ms. Liu identified herself as a Falun Gong practitioner, a strong male grasped both of her arms, furiously dragged her away from her chair and by the time he dragged her close to the door, she was already pulled to the ground, causing her arms great pain. Some Chinese reporters were also present.
Later, another Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Qi, who took some photos while waiting, was slapped on his face and on his body. A man also poured hot tea upon Mr. Qi's body and onto his camera.
In front of the police, a reporter from the Sing Tao Daily was pushed by the Chinese Vice-Consular General, Xu Jinzhong. The reporter and Xu had a short confrontation. Later all reporters were forced out of the room. These reporters were very upset.
When some practitioners in line went to talk to the people in the delegation after waiting for their number to be called, the delegation stopped them rudely as soon as Falun Gong was mentioned.
When Ms. Jinyu Li, went to talk to Dong Yiming about her husband's illegal arrest and detention in a labour camp, he tried to stop her. Jinyu and her husband were arrested when appealing at the Beijing Appeal Office. When Jinyu told Dong that it was a crime to arrest her and her husband when they appealed, Dong responded: "Even if it is a crime (to arrest), we would still arrest you (in the appeal office)" Later, Jinyu tried to give Dong a newspaper about the truth about Falun Gong on the street, Dong shouted: "I will call police! I will call police".
When Mr. Xueye Zhu, a Concordia Ph.D. student, talked to Dong about his illegal arrest and detention while appealing in Beijing, Dong said: "Arresting people is exactly what we want to do."
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Category: Persecution Outside China
