NEW YORK—A graphic home video obtained by The Epoch Times shows a New York woman being attacked by an unidentified Chinese male. According to an eyewitness, the assailant punched and knocked over 57-year-old Queens resident Weixing Wang—and then evaded police by feigning unconsciousness and ignorance, leaving the scene without consequence.
"He [the attacker] was cursing at a lady … and suddenly, with a big fist, he punched her in the chest, and then with both hands pushed her to the ground," said Juliana Hu, a tourist visiting New York from Australia. While it is difficult to see the punch in the video in The Epoch Times' possession, the footage clearly corroborates the man knocking Wang to the ground. When Hu raised the alarm afterwards, two bystanders caught the perpetrator, Hu said.
When police arrived to relieve the bystanders, said Wang, the man pretended to be unconscious. He then pretended to awaken and said he had accidentally run into her. Both Hu and Wang attempted to explain what had actually transpired to the police, but the officer dismissed all involved, apparently attempting to quickly disperse the crowd. The perpetrator quickly left the scene.
The attack came just steps from the main library in New York's Flushing Chinatown, at the site of the Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), where many Chinese have registered their break with the CCP over the past four years.
For most of that time, quitting the Party was a largely peaceful exercise, but this scene has rapidly changed over the last 10 days. On May 17, a large pro-Chinese communist crowd gathered to counter a rally held to highlight over 36 million withdrawals from the CCP and related organizations.
Many Chinese-language media also appeared to mobilize in force, later publishing only the Party line—unfounded allegations that Falun Gong practitioners, who comprise most of the volunteers of the Quitting the CCP Center, were interfering with the Sichuan earthquake relief. Later, New York Chinese Consul General Peng Kiyu was caught on tape boasting of the consulate's involvement with the mobs. "We encouraged them secretly," he said.
Since then, police have arrested at least six of the mob instigators. Still, instances of mob participants chanting extreme slogans, some of which are being assessed for hate content, have been recorded. Quit the CCP Center volunteers and Falun Gong practitioners have repeatedly received death threats. Individuals have been punched, pushed, kicked, and spat upon, with many of the perpetrators enjoying impunity—Wang's story being simply the most recent example.
The newspaper she is seen holding in the video of the attack, a recent Chinese edition of The Epoch Times, has the Chinese consul's role in the mobs as its lead story.
Gordon Chang, a China expert and author of The Coming Collapse of China, says this type of influence and intimidation is a direct attempt to restrict freedom of speech in America.
"The Chinese government has been systematically using Chinese nationals present in the United States to influence debate in this country," said Chang. "It is bad enough that the Communist Party runs an abhorrent political system in China. It is unacceptable that it is interfering in ours."
"This attempt to constrict speech in our country goes to the heart of our democracy. It is time for President Bush to demand, in public, that Beijing stop its intimidation," he said.
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