Emily O’Keefe
Three Inner West Falun Gong practitioners say they were the target of gunman.
David Liang of Ultimo is recovering in hospital from gunshot wounds to his feet after five bullets were fired at the car he was driving along a South Africa highway.
Grant Lu of Homebush and William Wei of Glebe were among the four other passengers in the car on June 28 who escaped unharmed. All five are part of the Falun Gong mediation movement which is banned in China. They had flown to South Africa earlier that day with four other Falun Gong followers.
Their aim was to file a lawsuit against visiting Chinese vice president Zeng Qinghong and Commerce Minister Bo Xilai for human rights abuses. Grant Lu said he was positive the shooting was a deliberate action.
“We had just arrived in the country so no one even knew us. And it wasn’t a simple robbery because they didn’t want our luggage.” he said. “They shot at our tires and drove off. We believe their aim was to get us killed by making our car crash.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said South African police were still investigating the incident and that it would be inappropriate at to comment on the motive of the shooting at this stage.
Posting date: 22/Jul/2004
Original article date: 19/Jul/2004
Category: Media Report
