CHAN:
And related to the earthquake in China, we have a story on how that earthquake is indirectly affecting the lives of Chinese people in New York. Here's more:
STORY:
As we reported last week, a group of Chinese volunteers has been virtually under seige in Flushing for almost a week. The volunteers are mostly members of the Falun Gong religious group, which is banned in China, and they've been coming here every day for years, asking people to quit the Chinese communist party (CCP).
But now, large groups of protesters have been tearing their signs, cursing and, as our cameras caught yesterday, assaulting them.
Last Friday, NTD obtained a voice recording of New York's Chinese consul general admitting that he had pressured and encouraged Chinese community leaders to organize the protests.
The other voice in the recording is an undercover investigator from the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG). The WOIPFG says the consulate is using the earthquake to stir up Chinese patriotism, silence political dissent, and deflect criticism away from the CCP's handling of the quake.
Many in China are angry at the CCP for the unsafe school construction, the failure to warn Sichuanese residents beforehand, and the reported embezzlement of some quake donations.
In the background of all of this is the Beijing Olympics in august, where the CCP will try to present an image of unity and harmony to the world, and where China's political prisoners will be voicing their dissent behind closed doors and to deaf ears.
