Posted on 10/24/2002 11:21:20 AM PDT by tallhappy
HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State
Oct. 23, 2002, 12:37PM
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
Two Galleria-area hotels have canceled reservations of Falun Gong practitioners in Houston to demonstrate against
Chinese President Jiang Zemin when he visits here this week.
"I don't understand what the problem is," said Lisa Nappi, a Falun Gong practitioner from Virginia. "This is America. This is a free
land."
Practitioners from around the world have come to Houston to peacefully protest what they consider Jiang's attempt to
eliminate their belief system. They say the Chinese government pressured the hotels to cancel their reservations because Jiang does
not like Falun Gong. The hoteliers said the Chinese government did not contact them.
Late Tuesday night, several hundred practitioners had a candlelight vigil outside the Inter-Continental Hotel, hoping to rent a
conference room there. Their contract to rent the room had been canceled earlier in the day.
"We think this is discrimination against Falun Gong practitioners," said John Nania, a practitioner visiting from Minneapolis,
Minn.
Tuesday, practitioners planned a meeting in the conference room, but late in the afternoon, hotel
staff said the practitioners did not show up on time. Jiang is scheduled to stay at the
hotel, in the 2200 block of West Loop South, beginning today.
Monday, practitioners said about 50 of their reservations were canceled at the Homestead Studio Suites next door to the
Inter-Continental. A Homestead spokeswoman said the hotel had overbooked the rooms and offered the practitioners accommodations at
the company's other Houston hotels.
Nappi said she paid $3,710 to use the conference room at Inter-Continental. She booked the room several weeks ago under the name of
her nonprofit group, FGM Public Media Inc., which she said produces programs about Falun Gong and traditional Chinese culture.
But late Tuesday, a hotel representative told her the reservation was canceled.
Inter-Continental spokeswoman Pamela Gilbert said Nappi's
group did not show up until about 3 p.m. but their contract required they begin at 6 a.m. The hotel returned the money to Nappi.
Gilbert said hotel management did not know that Nappi's company was connected to Falun Gong until some members asked to
be let into the conference room for their meeting Tuesday.
Gilbert also said that some practitioners asked hotel managers several weeks ago if they could protest on the property when Jiang
arrived.
Hotel staff did not want Falun Gong to use the room, saying the hotel "reserves the right" to protect its guests from disturbances,
Gilbert said.
"Since they had requested to protest earlier, we decided not to set up the (conference) room again," Gilbert said.
Monday, Falun Gong practitioners who had reserved rooms at the Homestead Studio Suites said hotel staff told them the
reservations were canceled because there were not enough rooms.
Homestead spokeswoman Karen Burk has said management at the company's Galleria hotel overbooked the rooms to make sure as many rooms
as possible were occupied if some people did not show up.
The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in July 1999, saying the belief system is a cult that uses mind control and manipulation
while openly challenging Chinese law. Practitioners have been arrested and jailed. Some claim they were tortured. Others said
practitioners have been killed.
The alleged treatment of Falun Gong members in China has gained the sympathy of the international community and some members
of the U.S. Congress.
I believe the early Christians could have been described this way, too.
To oppose the Chinese government you certainly can't be a candy a~s.
The times I have driven by there were definitely hundreds of them. However, they were lined up only one person deep on about a 1/2 mile of feeder road on both sides of the freeway. They were not anywhere near the hotel and they were not blocking traffic. They were all just standing by the curb holding their "SOS" signs for the drivers to read. For Freepers, some of you are pretty darn critical of peaceful protesters.
wo bu dong!
You have chosen to serve as the lackey for a bloodthirsty, repressive regime, the antithesis of the American and Texan ideals.
Had you any decency you would be ashamed.
Phil Dragoo
phildragoo@att.net
Not rationally. These guys are worse than communists.
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Christian discloses Falun Gong Cult: "Let your yes be yes and no, no" In the Bible, Jesus Christ tells people "simply let your 'yes' be 'yes' and 'no', 'no'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." "Following his instruction, when we Christians make an argument on the Falun Gong issue, we should first make clear what on earth Falun Gong is and what it is not," said Deng Fucun, vice chairman of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches of China (TSPMCPCC). Deng happened to live in the same hotel in Los Angeles with a group of Falun Gong followers during his religious visit to United States in late February this year, which helped him recognize the true nature of Falun Gong cult, Deng said. These Falun Gong activists were all overseas Chinese in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. At the daily gatherings during the breakfast time, "I always heard the ringleader of the gang instruct his followers to pay close attention to American people," Deng recalled. "If they show any interest in us, you should dress them up quickly with our yellow jackets (printed with Falun Gong logos) and take photos of them. This will definitely satisfy the US media." The ringleader kept reminding his members to "always follow the step of the Falun Gong troop, for it is an excellent opportunity to get the US green card", Deng added. During their three-day trip in Los Angeles, these Falun Gong activists spent most of their time sitting in front of China's consulate general in Los Angeles and being interviewed by US media. They only spared a half-day gathering to exchange experience in practicing the Falun Gong, though Li Hongzhi never appeared, according to Deng. So far, the Falun Gong cult has been completely under the control of overseas political forces to work against China, and to my understanding, Falun Gong is an evil cult with an anti-human, anti-society and anti-science nature, Deng said. The cult instigated its followers to attack everyone that opposes or questions their "belief" and actions. Numerous innocent victims were deceived by the fallacy to commit suicide or even slaughtered their family members. Li Hongzhi, the prime malefactor, oversold his mysterious power by saying that he was able to postpone the earth's explosion by 30 years and escape from the limits of time and space. "I will never forget the tragic suicidal 'event that seven Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire at the Tiananmen Square," said Deng in deep sorrow, and" I'm also shocked to hear about the US human rights report smearing China's efforts in eradicating the destructive cult and saving those bewitched Falun Gong followers as 'religious persecution'". "A professional US clergyman, who has bothered to make research on some books published by the Falun Gong cult, confirmed to me that Falun Gong is not a religion, because it does not has a real sutra, though it has managed to plagiarize a lot of religious languages from other religions," Deng said. "The Falun Gong cult is just like a vulture who has decorated itself with colorful feathers. But any dithering will shake off all the feathers, and it is still an ugly bird indeed," the clergyman made a comparison. The Bible says "...to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love." Chinese Christians will hold such affection to save those people who have lost in the heresy, eradicate the evil and carry forward the justice, Deng declared.
( xinhua ) |
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Protest all you want, but not in my hotel.
Protest all you want, but not in my hotel.
That's pretty much the same point I was trying to make to tallhappy, but he wasn't buying any of it. I'm pinging him here so he'll have a chance to tell you that you're making things up and that you're full of it.
Are you saying he made a pick up on this leg of his journey?
I know nothing about the Falun Gong, never heard they were all that bad - just outlawed by the Communist Chinese - which probably makes me feel a little more kindly to them.
Personally though, I think I would rather have them in the hotel with me than the Chinese Communist.
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