Chinese government officials
in New York on Tuesday refused to accept a
letter demanding the release of hundreds of
followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement,
who are held captive in China.
The
letter was the latest step in an intensifying
campaign to free Falun Gong practitioners jailed
in China, including 130 followers on a hunger
strike at a Chinese labor camp and a New York
based acupuncturist convicted of espionage.
"Just take the letter," said Adam
Montanaro, a Falun Gong practitioner, who carried
the envelope to the door of the Chinese consulate
on Manhattan. "It's just a piece of paper." But
the embassy official blocking the door declined,
and asked the protesters to leave.
The protesters insisted for about 20 minutes,
until a police officer with a red mustache effectively
ended the effort by helping the embassy official
close the door.
The
refusal came as no surprise to Yan Zuo, 56,
one of about
80 protesters gathered in front
of the consulate. "We try to contact the
Chinese government," said Yan, who had been
on a hunger strike for four days. "But it's
always useless. We have nowhere to turn to."
The Falun Gong movement is outlawed in China
and many of its practitioners have been jailed,
including the 130 people reportedly on a hunger
strike in the Mashanjia camp, in the Liaoning
province of China. The letter demanded their
immediate release, as well as that of Teng Chunyan,
a professor at the New York College of Oriental
Medicine. Teng was sentenced to prison in China
last year for her involvement with the movement.
Tang
Yin Long, a spokesman for the Chinese consulate
in New
York, would not comment on the letter.
But he said the Chinese government "never
persecuted anyone." He said Falun Gong is
a cult that had caused the death of more than
1,600 of its own members through suicides and
refusal to take medicines. "Any responsible
government will take actions to prevent this
kind of thing happening," Tang said.
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