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Local Falun Gong practitioners will observe Falun Gong week
beginning today, something that wouldn't be allowed in their
native China, where communist leaders oppose it as a public
menace and a threat to their rule.
Beijing police this morning seized at least two dozen Falun
Gong followers who unfurled banners and chanted slogans in
Tiananmen Square in the latest protest against a brutal
crackdown on their sect.
Members feel safe in Denver, said Jie Sun, a computer
programmer who practices the meditation and exercise movement.
And they'd like to spread what they see as the healthy
benefits of Falun Gong.
"It has powerful effects on physical, mental and spiritual
health," said Jie. Because of that, he said, it has spread
around the world since its founding in 1992.
People gather in Denver each week in Washington Park to
perform the Falun exercise program.
Today's event will include a short ceremony at 11 a.m. in
front of the Denver City and County Building and free
workshops from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in meeting room C of the
downtown Denver Public Library. Other workshops are scheduled
in libraries in the metro area.
A Denver man said his mother was held in a Chinese
detention center because she and he had talked about Falun
Gong during an international telephone call.
"I don't know what they did to her, but I know they often
beat members they arrest," said Young Yang, who is a partner
in Little Ollie's restaurant in Cherry Creek. He asked that
his parents' names names not be used for fear of reprisals in
China.
He said he is careful not to ask his mother what happened
to her and never discusses Falun Gong with her or his father,
"because I can tell the calls are monitored."
Jie said the Chinese government once supported Falun Gong,
when the organization was first formed, thinking it was good
for people. The organization has been called a religious cult,
but Jie said it isn't a religious movement.
The group says 83 practitioners have died from police
brutality, more than 50,000 have been jailed, 25,000 have been
sent to labor camps without trial, and 600 have been abused in
mental hospitals.
