Epoch Times Deputy Chief Editor Attacked In Flushing

On June 16, the Epoch Times New York edition published the photos of several Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accomplices on the front page. All of those pictured had violently assaulted Falun Gong practitioners and attempted to incite hatred toward Falun Gong during riots in Flushing.

One of these individuals, seeing his photo in the paper, attacked an Epoch Times editor and destroyed his camera. Police arrested the assailant as he attempted to attack another Epoch Times photographer, even while police were questioning him about the first assault.

Cheng Feng Hsiao, a Falun Gong practitioner from California, who was involved in the incident, describes what happened. "I was distributing the newspaper on the street by a Chinese herb store. A man from the store took a copy, and then asked if I knew the person in the front page picture. He told me it was the proprietor of this store."

Just after the conversation, the proprietor of the herb store came out. "He came up and stole all the papers from me," Cheng explained.

The man scolded Cheng while she was resisting and claimed that he was not afraid even if the police came. Cheng, unable to stop the stronger man from stealing the papers from her, shouted for help from other Falun Gong practitioners nearby.

Epoch Times Deputy Chief Editor Mr. Pan Hongyi happened to be nearby, so he went to the spot and photographed the scene. "When he realized that I was taking his photo, he charged over and punched my right arm. My camera dropped, and he stepped on it and completely smashed it," said Pan.

"The police arrived at the scene swiftly. An officer told the man to wait at the door while the officer got everyone's stories and figured out what really happened. The man was leisurely smoking and making phone calls, as if nothing had happened. When another reporter took his picture, the man rushed over trying desperately to grab the camera, but he was restrained by the police."

Later, a senior police official arrived at the scene, and the police arrested the man. He violently resisted.

More police officers arrived, grabbed the attacker, held him down, and cuffed him. He turned to a person in the crowd (who has been reported by local Chinese as a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy) and yelled, "Save me, save me..." before being carried into a nearby police vehicle.

Zhang Xiuhua, another Falun Gong practitioner from California who also witnessed the entire event, said, "The man blatantly threatened Falun Gong practitioners with death. The words that he used were very dirty, vicious, and revolting."

Mr. Pan commented on the incident, "The communist regime has turned Flushing into its test site to export its communist violence.

"The recent Flushing red terrorism was definitely not a simple conflict of opinions, but a result of the CCP's systematic propaganda of hatred—a terrorism planned using all means. This is exactly what the CCP wanted and planned.

"The regime is testing the reaction of the free world, testing the limits of Americans, and the government."

According to a Flushing resident, CCP organizers told those accomplices not to worry about being arrested, because they would be released within a few hours.

"The support of the CCP and its infiltration of some U.S. organization are the reasons that these men dare to repeatedly attack Falun Gong practitioners. It also points out that the present response mechanism is inadequate to stop the men from their evil conduct.

"We hope the United States government and the judicial system will respond appropriately to the CCP's terrorism, particularly by launching an anti-terrorism mechanism. The damage is not merely the destruction of property or causing financial loss; it is a destruction of the essence of American values and of the foundation of this nation that the entire world is proud of. The United States government must seriously face up to this problem."