Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners yesterday accused the French police of violating their rights and harassing them while visiting France during the Lunar New Year.
According to the Taiwan Falun Dafa Institute, over 170 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners went to Paris to celebrate the Lunar New Year with their fellow practitioners.
On Jan. 26, several dozen devotees were arrested simply because they were wearing Falun Gong's yellow scarves on the streets of Paris, the institute said.
"We don't understand why the French police made these arrests, and we feel sorry that the whole incident occurred," secretary-general Hung Chi-hung (洪吉弘) said.
Hung and other Falun Gong practitioners also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday afternoon to protest the conduct of the French police and urged the ministry to communicate with the French government over the incident.
They said the arrests were an infringement of their human rights, and demanded the French government investigate the incident and apologize to Falun Gong members.
The institute's press release also quoted a Ms Fan, a reporter who had apparently been mistaken for a Falun Gong practitioner. When Fan was arrested a police officer allegedly told her: "Falun Gong is legal during normal times, but it is illegal today."
Chung Cheng (
"I arrived in Paris on Jan. 20, and I took a small Falun Gong flag with me to the Chinese Embassy on Jan. 21. At that time no police officers or employees from the embassy told me it was illegal," he said.
"But when I took the flag to the embassy again on Jan. 26, I was arrested. I asked the police why they arrested me, and they told me it was because of the flag," he said.
Chung said that he was arrested at around 7pm and taken to a police station. But the police did not put him behind bars or ask for a statement, instead leaving him to sit in the station. At around 11pm, Chung said, the police told him he was free to go, but his flag was not returned.
The arrests coincided with Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
Earlier this month, the Falun Gong group said they had been barred from joining a parade on the Champs Elysees to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
They claimed that the authorities had been acting under pressure from the Chinese embassy in Paris.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS