April 2, 2002, 9:19 P.M.

(Original text in German)

For allegedly soiling his hands with murder, torture and massive suppression, China's president Jiang Zemin will be greeted by protesting Falun Gong practitioners and other groups when he visits the VW factory on April 12. Ms. Yi Wang-Hemmelgarn of Falun Gong plans it this way: "When he comes to Wolfsburg, I want to show him a banner that reads, "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance."

Jiang Zemin is said to be afraid of these three words. Viewed from a Western perspective, the whole movement does not seem very aggressive: Falun Gong practitioners perform relaxing exercises that are supposed to activate body, mind and soul. Falun Gong's biggest mistake in China apparently was that the movement had become too large, with many millions of followers, [...]. Falun Gong was outlawed in 1999.

[...]387 Falun Gong activists have supposedly been tortured to death already; tens of thousands were arrested. Wang-Hemmelgarn can only shake her head, "[Jiang's] government brands us as criminals. The fact is simply that we have more followers than the ruling Party, and it is that which makes Jiang Zemin jealous."

So that the Chinese President will not feel too lonesome in foreign Europe, she plans to let him perceive daily greetings from his homeland in every town he visits. This champion for human rights will leave her [German] home in Bayreuth/Bavaria and commence on a "long march through Germany, to warn the populace about Jiang Zemin."

She plans to protest in Wolfsburg also, so declared the courageous Chinese woman, who practices daily meditations. Her simple method, "When Jiang Zemin comes, I will drive to the factory and hold my banner high."

Wolfsburg/Germany (Volkswagen Works) (bri)