(600 x 501 px, 96 dpi)
A number of people gathered outside of the Chinese Embassy in London last weekend to take part in a coordinated global hunger strike to protest against widespread human rights abuses in China. They asked for an immediate release of all dissidents who have been detained in prisons and labour camps inside China and appealed for support to those who have or want to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
A statement made by the global coordinators of the event was read. Beifang Xue, a human rights lawyer for workers in China and Lucy Jin, a representative of Federation of Democratic China (UK) also spoke at the event.
The statement read, "Today's human rights in China has been deteriorating, the Chinese Communist Regime has secretly kidnapped and illegally detained human rights lawyers and activists, Wen Haipo, Ouyang Xiaorong, Ma Wendu, Hu Jia, Yan Zhengxue, Yang Zaixin. Other dissidents such as Jiang Meili, Mo Zhujie, Wang Shuizhen, Ma Yalian have been monitored or under house arrest. Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been forced to close his firm and received a few attempts of murder because he tried to defend Falun Gong practitioners. Another human rights lawyer Yang Zaixin has been sacked from his post because his involvement in defending dissidents." It called for an immediate release, without conditions, of all illegally detained writers, reporters, lawyers, political prisoners and those people who follow their own faiths including Christianity, Catholicism, Falun Gong and others.
Three years ago, on the same day, Mr Beifang Xu, a workers' rights lawyer in China was on a hunger strike to protest against the persecution by the regime when he was locked up in a prison. He strongly condemned the severe persecution to innocent people in China and said, "Today in China there are countless workers who cannot get paid for their work; laws have become a tool for the regime to use at will for personal benefits; money collected from taxes paid by citizens has been irresponsibly spent…. All those are against the mainstream current in the whole world."
Federation of Democratic China is one of the organisers of these global hunger strikes. Its UK branch representative, Lucy Jin pointed out, "The purpose of this global action is to wake up people in China and make them realise their dignity and rights and to urge, in the meantime, the Chinese Communist Regime to stop these 'mafia-like' actions. Otherwise, people will all stand up in defiance."
Ms Jin thinks people who joined the hunger strike on the 6th March 2006 are also spokepersons for those ordinary people in China "because they are threatened under the Chinese Communist Regime's mafia-like actions and its spreading the threats to countries outside China." She said, "We cannot keep quiet. Everyone's human rights and freedom are the human rights and freedom of every one of us. Therefore, maintaining others' dignity is done, in fact, to maintain our human dignity."
Lucy expressed her anger and shock over the violent incidents of attacking staff of The Epoch Times in the U.S. and damaging printing machine owned by The Epoch Times Hong Kong branch. She said, "The actions by them [Chinese Communist Regime] can only show that they do not have any confidence and are scared because The Epoch Times speaks righteously. It has many readers including Chinese and Westerners. Through it people in the world have heard righteous voice and learnt the truth."
On the same day in other parts of the UK, hunger strikers also got together to raise public awareness. A group of strikers were outside Kings College, Cambridge.
Feeds