WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement marched through Washington Thursday to demand international help to stop repression of the group in China, an issue which has soured U.S.-China relations.
Some 2,000 members and supporters, carrying signs extolling the Falun Gong virtues of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" and pictures of followers they say have endured repression, rallied near Congress two years after Beijing banned the movement.
"We came here to try to send out an urgent call to rescue Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China," said organizer Lisa Nappi, a Falun Gong follower in Washington.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Beijing next week. He and other U.S. leaders have condemned the repression of Falun Gong practitioners but stress the need to balance concern over human rights in China with cooperation on economic and strategic matters.
President Bush will go to China to meet President Jiang Zemin in October.
The Falun Gong faith, also known as Falun Dafa, combines meditation and exercise with Buddhist and Taoist teachings. China banned the group in July 1999, accusing it of being an evil cult trying to topple the Communist government.
Followers outside China say more than 200 practitioners of the faith have died in police custody since the movement was banned by Beijing two years ago.
About a dozen members of the U.S. Congress, where voices have been raised in protest against China's human rights record, expressed their concerns at the rally.
Among them was Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives Wednesday condemning China's treatment of Falun Gong followers.
'ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK'
"It is our homework on behalf of those who cannot speak," she said, urging protesters to campaign for its passage.
At the rally, human rights groups at both ends of the political spectrum -- including the feminist National Organization for Women and the conservative Family Research Council -- called for an end to Chinese persecution.
Amnesty International's T. Kumar, director of advocacy in Asia and the Pacific, urged Bush to demand the release of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners.
"President Bush, you have a responsibility and obligation to take the case of Falun Gong immediately before President Jiang Zemin before you visit China in October," he said.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhang Yuanyuan held a news conference to condemn the Falun Gong, which he called a "doomsday cult".
Asked about reports that Chinese authorities had tortured Falun Gong members in prison, Zhang said, "Many of these stories are completely fabricated. ... There was no torture. Prison wardens are forbidden to physically abuse inmates."
Zhang described the followers of Falun Gong as "willing cannon fodder for their leader's political ambition."
Mengyang Jian, a high school senior and follower of Falun Gong who walked from Boston to Washington for the rally, said she believed raising awareness for the movement was the most important activity she could participate in this summer.
Jian's journey took her and three others more than three weeks and she was joined by dozens of supporters along the way. "It's important to everyone, really," she said. "It's liberty. It's freedom. I think everyone deserves that."
17:18 07-19-01
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