At noon on December 16, Sydney practitioners held a press
conference in front of the Thai Consulate regarding the recent unlawful arrests
of practitioners. John Deller, chairperson of New South Wales Falun Dafa Association,
delivered an open letter to the Thai Consul General. The open letter expressed
the local practitioners' strong concern over the arrests of eight practitioners
who were conducting a peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand.
They called on the Thai government not to kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) and act as its accomplice. They demanded the immediate release of all detained
practitioners and restoration of the rights of peaceful protest in front of the
Chinese Embassy.
Mr. Boonyamanop, Thai Consul
General, met with John and the other practitioner-representative. He accepted
the open letter and listened to the practitioners' concerns. The consul general
said that Thai is an independent state and Thai practitioners have the rights
to peacefully express their will at Chinese Embassy.
  Two practitioners deliver an open letter to Thai consul general |
  Practitioner Kay reads the open letter at a rally |
Practitioner
Kay Rubacek read the open letter at the rally. The letter recounted the Thai incident:
On December 10, instigated by the Chinese Embassy, Thai police violently interfered
with the practitioners' protest in front of the Embassy. On December 14,
the Thai police at Pattaya beat three practitioners who handed out truth clarification
materials. On December 15, eight practitioners, including three children (age
3, 6, 14 respectively) were arrested by Thai police in front of the Chinese embassy.
The open letter stated: During the six-year peaceful resistance of practitioners
to the CCP's brutal persecution, Falun Gong has received more and more support,
and spread to more than 70 countries. In the early years of the persecution, the
Thai government welcomed and supported Falun Gong. However, tempted by commercial
interests and intimidated by the communist power, it started to breach practitioners'
basic rights. For example, it sabotaged a Falun Dafa experience sharing conference
in 2000 and arrested a Swedish practitioner who was to conduct a peaceful appeal
during the Chinese Prime Minister's visit.
The open letter stated that
China is undergoing a dramatic change. Since publication of the Nine
Commentaries on the Communist Party, more and more people have realized
the evil nature of the CCP, and more than six million Chinese have formally quit
the party. ,The totalitarian regime is collapsing.
The open letter calls on
the Thai government not to be bewildered by the CCP's lies, and to recognize
the evil nature of the CCP. Practitioners call on the Thai government not to act
as an accomplice of the CCP and safeguard human morality and conscience. They
also requested the Thai government to release the arrested practitioners, stop
the harassment of Thai practitioners and allow them to conduct peaceful protests
in front of the Chinese Embassy.
At the press conference, John Deller recounted
his half-hour meeting with the Thai Consul General. The consul general said that
he didn't know of the arrest of practitioners in his homeland. However, he
was very concerned about this situation and promised to convey the practitioners'
concerns and requests to his government. The consul also clearly stated that Thailand
is an independent state, won't take CCP's orders, and practitioners
have the right to peacefully express themselves at the Chinese Embassy.
Reportedly,
all the arrested practitioners are UN refugees. The excuse of the Thai police
was that the Chinese Embassy called them and asked them to arrest practitioners.
Thai police allegedly said that it would detain them until another country will
admit them. The arrested practitioners have started a hunger strike.
It is
said that practitioners in Canberra and Victoria Province also conducted similar
rallies and submitted open letters to the Thai Embassy and Consulate respectively.
Posting
date: 19/Dec/2005
Original article date: 19/Dec/2005
Category:
Australian News
