Falun Gong protest China's crackdown near APEC talks

Nov 10, 2011, 5:22 GMT

Honolulu, Hawaii - Dozens of members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement protested near the main venue for an Asia-Pacific economic summit in Hawaii on Wednesday, saying they wanted to highlight China's crackdown on the group.

'We want to let the presidents know about Falun Gong,' a protester from Taiwan told dpa, referring to this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting in Hawaii.

'This persecution has continued for 12 years; it can't go on,' said the woman, who was holding banners with about 30 other Falun Gong members from Taiwan along a 100-metre stretch of Ala Moana Boulevard in Honolulu.

Ben Maloney, one of the organizers of the protest, said scores of other Falun Gong members from Taiwan, South Korea and other nations were expected to arrive in Hawaii before the leaders' meeting began on Saturday.

The group planned to protest from Thursday outside the Hawaii Convention Centre, where APEC economic and trade officials are meeting ahead of the leaders' summit, Maloney said.

'Twelve years is too long,' said another woman. 'So we've come from Taiwan to let people know.'

'We want (Chinese President) Hu Jintao and the other leaders to see us,' she said.

China's ruling Communist Party, which Hu has led since 2002, banned Falun Gong in 1999 after protests outside the party's leadership compound by thousands of members of the group.

The ban was followed by a brutal crackdown against the group, which once had up to 70 million adherents in China, according to Chinese government estimates.

International rights groups and Falun Gong members continue to report illegal detentions, torture, imprisonment and deaths in custody.

Hu and US President Barack Obama are among the 21 leaders scheduled to attend the APEC summit.

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