Efforts by China's ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stifle dissent during the Olympic Torch Relay's recent global tour appear to have set a nasty precedent.
Following the aggressive and often physically violent pro-China rallies evident along the Relay, similar tactics surfaced last weekend at a "Quit the Chinese Communist Party" (Quit the CCP) rally held in New York City.
In what witnesses state was a coordinated effort of intimidation, a mob of approximately 200 Chinese shouted slogans, cursed, and threw eggs and bottles at a Quit the CCP outdoor center May 18-20 in Flushing, a mostly-Chinese suburb 10 miles east of Manhattan.
Ms Rong Yi, vice-president of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP and a resident of New York, said the mob was shouting abuse - aiming much of it at Falun Gong. According to Ms Yi, many in Flushing's Chinese community are aware and understand the connection between the Quit the CCP Service Center and the spiritual practice.
"The Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting Falun Gong since 1999," says Ms Yi. "Falun Gong practitioners have been taking the lead to call for Chinese people to get rid of the Communist organizations by setting up booths to help Chinese to quit from Communist organizations."
Ms. Yi says that events on Saturday, Sunday and Monday were met with well-orchestrated, well-organized protests.
"The people [gathered against the Global Service Center] were shouting, cursing Falun Gong, shouting 'traitors'! Some of them also had boards that said: 'Without the Chinese Communist Party, No China,' said Ms. Yi. "In a very short time, a few hundred people were organized."
Witnesses voiced their suspicions that the attack appeared to be planned, as one instigator was heard shouting in Chinese into his cell phone: "Hurry! Bring more people over here. Each person will be paid ninety dollars."
Police setup barricades around the raucous crowd after it became violent, with some members throwing glass bottles at Quit the CCP volunteers.
According to staffers, the Quit the CCP movement is designed to educate Chinese people about the nefarious activities of the Chinese Communist Party, providing them with information that is otherwise censored, distorted or mostly denied within China. The initiative offers Chinese people the opportunity to resign from the Party, and the group had organized the Flushing rally to mark 36 million withdrawals.
The movement began in 2004 when many Chinese publicly withdrew from the CCP in response to reading the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, published by The Epoch Times in 2004. The book gives a graphic, detailed history of the CCP's origin and crimes.
Coordinated Disruption
Nick Guy Rostron, visiting from England, was at the Quit the CCP booth in Flushing on Monday. Mr Rostron told The Epoch Times that about an hour after he and others started handing out newspapers and information about quitting the CCP, things quickly changed.
"A crowd started to gather suddenly," he said. "I went there to hand out information as well. There were probably around 50 people at first. Then within 10–20 minutes, there were around 200 people."
According to Ronstron, the crowd was "shouting and being quite angry," but a few stood out.
"There seemed to be about 10–20 people who were the main instigators and everyone else was following along with their lead," Mr Ronstron explained. "A lady threw eggs and when the police confiscated her bag; her bag had around four boxes with around twelve eggs in each box."
The attack appears to have also been coordinated with pro-Communist, state-run media.
CCTV, China's largest television network, was particularly notable, witnesses said. Free drinks and Chinese flags were given out to the crowd that gathered to oppose the rally for quitting the CCP. Other individuals arranged the scene to provide CCTV television crews with good propaganda opportunities.
Immediately after Saturday's event, stories were published and broadcast depicting participants in the Quit the CCP event as people who "do not care about the victims of the Sichuan earthquake" and "do not love China".
Part of a Pattern
The attack in Flushing appears to be part of a new and unsettling pattern of mobilizing overseas mainland Chinese and students to demonstrate - sometimes violently - against criticism of Beijing.
The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) is holding rallies in 40 countries around the world devoted to the proposition: "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China."
The group also encountered aggressive, organized pro-China disruptions at their events, which often feature former Olympians, government officials, and representatives from Sudanese, Tibetan and Christian rights groups, as well as Falun Gong.
China observers say the provocative pattern could be part of an initiative from the top hierarchy of the Chinese Communist Party, and point to Zhou Yongkang, head of the Central Political and Legislative Committee.
Zhou is known as a principal figure behind the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong, and has been sued in several countries for crimes against humanity and torture.
Zhou is also believed to have used the CCP's espionage network to mobilize overseas Chinese Student and Scholar Associations and community groups to disrupt events and protests, such as the Olympic Torch Relay and the HRTR rallies.
When the Olympic Torch Relay first began encountering protests from Tibetans and others, the Chinese regime prepared large counter-protests, offering incentives to overseas Chinese. In Australia, Chinese students from around the country were given free food, accommodation and travel to Canberra, where five pro-Chinese supporters were arrested for disrupting the event.
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