IN his harshest attack on the Chinese government, the spiritual leader of the Falun Gong has called on members to fight against ``evil forces'' that are suppressing the sect.
Describing the Chinese leadership as ``an evil and political hooligan clique'', sect founder Li Hongzhi called Beijing's crackdown ``the most evil thing on earth''.
Li urged his followers to ``clear away the evil lives''. However, according to the movement's website (www.minghui.ca) he denied he was referring to any particular individuals or groups.
Li made the remarks in a 20-minute speech at a Falun Gong festival in Ottawa on Saturday, his first public appearance this year.
Over the past year, sect followers have launched high-profile campaigns to protest against Beijing's crackdown on the movement.
When asked to comment on Li's speech, Hong Kong Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung said: ``The crackdown on the Falun Gong is conducted by some evil people with Jiang Zemin as their head.'' He said Falun Gong devotees would continue their peaceful protests to try to stop the crackdown.
Mr Kan said he hoped the new Chinese leadership - after an autumn reshuffle next year - would be open-minded and start a dialogue with the movement.
The sect was founded by Li, a former soldier who became a qigong master, in northern China in 1992. It flourished in the mid-1990s as communist ideology became less important on the mainland. But in July 1999, Beijing said the sect was an ``evil cult'' and outlawed it, three months after tens of thousands of followers besieged the Zhongnanhai leadership compound.