Tribune staff reporter

Published April 7, 2002

Officials with the Chinese consulate in Chicago and a local Chinese-American association have been named as defendants in a federal lawsuit alleging a nationwide conspiracy to harass [practitioners] of Falun Gong.

The suit describes more than 60 alleged incidents of attacks, including nine in Chicago. Most of the incidents in Chicago are alleged to be directed at Bill Fang and Lin Zhang Tong, who are among the plaintiffs.

At a news conference Saturday, the men, who came to the United States in the 1990s on visas and live in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood, described being harassed and physically assaulted while distributing Falun Gong literature near the Chinese consulate.

Fang said that during one incident, several men emerged from the Chinese consulate and hit and pushed him. Zhang Tong said his car was destroyed in December in a fire that he believes was purposely set. According to the suit, the car was targeted because it was used to haul banners displayed during Falun Gong protests held regularly outside the Chinese consulate at 100 W. Erie St.

The suit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of about 50 Falun Gong [practitioners] nationwide, according to reports published in the Washington Post. It charges that the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, China Central Television and others are part of a nationwide conspiracy to intimidate U.S. Falun Gong practitioners.

Among the defendants are unspecified officials of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Chicago and Alexander Hugh of the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago. Attempts to reach the consulate, Hugh and the association were unsuccessful.

No specific monetary damages are being sought. Martin F. McMahon, attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the suit seeks to have the court force the defendants to "stop this campaign of terror."

Falun Gong, a self-improvement discipline rooted in ancient Chinese culture, was introduced in China in 1992. It combines movements similar to tai chi with meditation and is designed to promote health and inner peace, according to its followers. [...]

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