Motive of gathering exposed

THE circumstances surrounding the illegal gathering on April 25 by more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners at Zhongnanhai, the site of Party and government headquarters, expose Li Hongzhi's purpose in creating the incident.

This was revealed in a lengthy report issued yesterday.

The illegal gathering, targeted at the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council and disrupting the work of the leading organs of the Party and State, was the most serious political incident since the 1989 political turmoil and had an extremely bad impact both at home and abroad.

The report exposed the truth behind the incident, giving many details about the illegality of Li's Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organizations under its control.

He arrived in Beijing on April 22 and spent 44 hours in the city plotting with his followers to organize the illegal gathering outside Zhongnanhai. He then flew to Hong Kong prior to the gathering in order not to be suspected of being behind it.

Li's purpose was soon disseminated among his followers, level by level, via telephone calls.

The Beijing "headquarters" reported the situation regarding the April 25 gathering to Li in Hong Kong and asked for his orders.

Officials of the letters and calls departments of the general offices of the Central Committee and the State Council requested Falun Gong practitioners to call a halt to the illegal gathering. The "headquarters" finally agreed and the practitioners dispersed.

Ji Liewu, one of Li's loyal lieutenants, was angry about the retreat and said people who practise Falun Gong should be scared of nothing, not even death.

Li, who has boasted that he understands the mysteries of the universe, has misjudged the situation and overestimated his capabilities.

Xinhua
08/13/99