The claims put forth by Xinhua in this story follow a pattern of fabricated reports that have – under the orders of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin – been faithfully churned out by China’s state-run media over the last four-plus years in an attempt to legitimize the persecution against Falun Gong, or at least dull the interest of would-be critics around the world.
Frank Lu, director of the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, said that Liu’s death was being covered up and local officials had been told not to reveal any details surrounding it.
On Friday evening, at King George Square in Brisbane, practitioners from southeast Queensland held a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Liu Chengjun, who died from torture on 26th December 2003.
On the second day in the new year of 2004, more than 50 Falun Dafa practitioners from around Australia gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Canberra and held a press conference and a memorial to raise awareness of the brutal torture and subsequent death of Liu Chengjun.
On the morning of December 30, Melbourne Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate at Melbourne to protest the death of Mr. Liu Chengjun Liu. They also called for the punishment of those responsible, to bring Dictator Jiang to justice, and to end the persecution of Falun Gong.
Without access to any typical means of communication such as newspapers, magazines, TV, or radio, Falun Gong practitioners in China have resorted to many creative and sometimes unusual methods for raising awareness among Chinese people about the persecution.
Dr. Martin Luther King and Gandhi both technically violated laws in their peaceful civil disobedience, but such disobedience did not diminish their goals. In fact, their peaceful course of action was the only possible path to their goals, and by strictly adhering to that path they proved the virtue of their cause.
