“If you are Falun Gong, I will beat you
to death!”
|
NEW
YORK (FDI) – Six defendants, including two pro-Communist organizations, were served
with a summons for a civil lawsuit yesterday for their roles in an assault against
practitioners of Falun Gong last year in New York City.
Mr.
Guan Liang, the head of the Unified Federation of Chinese Associations, which
has close ties to the Chinese consulate, was arrested last year for his leading
role in the group assault.
During the assault, which took
place June 23, 2003, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, one victim sustained multiple injuries,
including a black eye and bloody nose.
Witnesses report that
attackers shouted “If you are Falun Gong, I will beat you to death!” As Liang
was escorted by police following his subsequent arrest, he paused and addressed
reporters, shouting “Evil cult!” – a term commonly used by Jiang Zemin’s regime
to defame Falun Gong and to justify the five-year bloody persecution of Falun
Gong in China.
In 1999, Chinese leader Jiang Zemin ordered
the eradication of Falun Gong in China and abroad, and this has manifested through
Chinese consulate influence in the form of violence and intimidation in Chinese
communities all over the world. (report)
Immediately
after Mr. Liang was served with the summons yesterday, he shoved the process server
and threw the summons to the ground, according to witnesses. He then ran to a
nearby police officer, saying, “This man hit me!” The officer, after questioning
the process server, picked up the summons and handed it back to Mr. Liang.
Mr.
Steven Wong, of the Lin Ze Xu Foundation, was also served with papers Saturday.
The
action was filed against Mr. Liang and Mr. Wong as individuals, as well as their
respective organizations. Other defendants served include Mr. Chuen-Hsiung Hua.
Videotaped footage of the assault shows Mr. Hua cursing at the plaintiffs, and
then shoving a female plaintiff down an escalator.
Assault
and Battery
The plaintiffs brought the civil action, filed
in the New State Supreme Court, New York County, against the defendants to seek
relief for “injuries sustained by plaintiffs arising out of assault and battery,
harassment, common law conspiracy, violation of civil rights, intentional infliction
of emotional distress,” and others in connection with the violence perpetrated
by defendants on the night of June 23, 2003.
“This [civil]
action is being brought to stop those who would carry out Jiang Zemin’s directive
to ‘eradicate’ Falun Gong around the world,” commented Lana S. Han, the attorney
for the plaintiffs. “The crimes Jiang’s regime has perpetrated inside China are
horrific and large-scale – we cannot allow them to take place on US soil, as well.”
The
defendants have 20 days to respond to the summons. Failing that, the plaintiffs
have the right to seek a default judgment against them.
Posting
Date: 5/Jul/2004
Article Date: 4/Jul/2004
Category: World News
