FLUSHING, New York City—Two attacks on Falun Gong practitioners occurred on Sunday, June 15 and Monday, June16. The Sunday attack occurred in Brooklyn and a similar attack occurred on Monday Flushing, Queens.
Flushing, Monday
Police arrested a man on the 15th in Flushing, Queens after he struck and broke the camera of Hongyi Pan who has been reporting for The Epoch Times. The incident took place around noon on Main Street. Pedestrians told Pan that a man was aggressively grabbing newspapers from Epoch Times distributors, Pan said.
The man was angry that his photo had been published on the cover of the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times in a section showing those involved in a hate protest during a Falun Dafa parade.
Seeing the man's violent behavior, Pan took a picture of him for evidence. "The man quickly came up to me and hit my arm, making my camera fall to the ground," said Pan. "The man then stomped on my camera several times, breaking it."
Xiuhua Zhang, a local business owner, witnessed the incident. After the man hit Pan, "the camera then dropped to ground and the man madly stepped on the camera, all the while cursing and making threats. It was really rude," she said.
Police quickly arrived at the scene and investigated the incident. When the police attempted to arrest the man who had broken Yi's camera, he "resisted and struggled with the police," Pan said. "The police then brought the man to the ground and arrested him." Police took the man to the 109 precinct in Flushing and identified him as Ngan Yung, 44, arresting him for criminal mischief.
Pan expressed his shock at the event that had unfolded. "I can't believe that in broad daylight, in front of so many people, he did this," he said. "I'm not the only victim in this area; I know there were other people who were beaten, threatened, and so on by those people who have been misled by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) propaganda."
Brooklyn, Sunday
A similar attack occurred in Brooklyn on Sunday this week. At least two eyewitnesses have identified the attacker as Wei Qiu, a 68-year-old man from Mainland China. Qiu, a man known to be a local Chinese community leader, assaulted Falun Gong practitioner John Yu with a metal steering-wheel lock, according to witnesses.
Yu was distributing The Epoch Times with his friend, Bin Xue, near the subway on 8th St. where they noticed Qiu and four others distributing flyers that slander Falun Gong. Yu attempted to photograph the group for evidence.
Qiu attacked Yu after realizing that Yu was photographing him.
"I saw Qiu Wei coming out of his car with a metal club," Yu said. "At 3:20 p.m., he raised the club and swung it towards my waist. I tried to duck, but he hit my arm and caused bleeding. Later I found my camera was damaged too."
Next, Yu said he saw his friend Xue being grabbed by a woman in Qiu's group; she was apparently attempting to take his camera. When Xue raised his camera to photograph the woman for evidence, the woman repeatedly tried to hit his ear, managing only to slap his face.
"If I had not avoided it, that metal bar would have broken my back," said Yu of the attack. "This kind of assault is a real big problem, this kind of terrorist action is a threat to human safety; it makes people afraid to walk on the street."
The group escaped by car before NYPD arrived on the scene. Yu got photos of the car and license plate number. Police took the two victims to the 68th Precinct where they filed a police report. Yu sustained a cut on his arm and his camera was damaged.
Qiu has been linked to previous incidents against Falun Gong practitioners.
On May 25, during a Falun Gong parade in Chinatown, Qiu was seen in the area using a megaphone to shout defaming and slanderous statements at parade participants; he was joined by a group of pro-CCP supporters.
On the afternoon of May 31, Qiu was seen in Flushing wearing a vest displaying anti-Falun Gong statements during a Falun Gong rally.
On June 14, he was wearing the same garment at a Falun Gong march in Flushing. Investigators of the recent attacks have identified Wei as one of the main organizers attempting to disrupt the march.
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