On June 28, Zeng Qinghong, Vice-President of China, was on an official visit in South Africa. The same day, Falun Gong practitioners from Australia arrived in South Africa, hoping to file a lawsuit against the high-ranking Chinese official for torture and crimes against humanity, as Zeng has been deeply involved in the brutal persecution of the spiritual and meditation practice Falun Gong in Mainland China. The practitioners were driving toward the Presidential Guest House to hold a press conference and announce their legal plans, but a white car pulled up beside them on the highway and opened fire on the car. The shooter, apparently attempting to disable the car and maim but not kill the driver of the practitioners’ car, shot repeatedly at the front door and front tire of the practitioners’ car. The driver, David Liang, was shot in both feet, with the bones in one of his feet shattered. Yet although David and his passengers could no longer drive their car and were completely at the mercy of the shooter, the shooter simply drove off. This act was the most violent form of persecution the Chinese government has dared to orchestrate outside of China in order to intimidate Falun Gong practitioners and thus prevent them from appealing for the human rights of their fellow practitioners in China, millions of who are being detained, brainwashed, and tortured in detention centers and labor camps today. For the last five years since the persecution of Falun Gong began in China, the Chinese government, under the direction of former president Jiang Zemin, has been using threats, intimidation, harassments and violence in an attempt to silence the voices of Falun Gong practitioners throughout the world. In New York City, Chinese officials arranged thugs to beat up practitioners handing out flyers in front of a dinner party for Chinese Consulate officials and local Communist Party organizations. In Chicago, a pair of Chinese thugs pleaded guilty to assaulting a practitioner protesting outside the Chinese Consulate. They were in collusion with the Chinese government. All around the world, Falun Gong practitioners get death threats from Embassy and Consulate officials and their henchmen; they are harassed in public, and their phones and emails are tapped. This recent shooting in South Africa is merely an extension of the violence and intimidation used to silence the voices of justice. Some may disagree with my viewpoint and say that the shooting was random. I don’t have physical proof of the shooters connection with the Chinese government as of yet, but the fact that 1. the shooter shot not to kill, yet simply drove off after disabling the practitioners’ car, 2. Zeng Qinghong has been sued before outside of China and has used all means available to him to prevent legal action against himself, and 3. one of the practitioners traveling to South Africa, Grant Lu, received threatening phone calls and had his car vandalized before leaving his home residence of Australia for South Africa , there is no question in my heart about the reason for this shooting. The persecution of Falun Gong has gone on for nearly five years now, and the Chinese government has used some of the most cruel and brutal torture methods imaginable (see illustrations here - http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/10/49058.html). Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been put into labor camps, thousands have been forced into mental hospitals and injected with nerve-damaging drugs, and nearly 1000 were confirmed to have been tortured to death (the real number could be higher than 10,000). Yet Falun Gong practitioners, who practice cultivation of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, have never fought back against their oppressors and have continued to uphold their faith and protest against their sufferings despite the authoritarian environment that is China. Their shining example of civil disobedience and courage will always be remembered. The persecution of Falun Gong needs to come to an end so that the light of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance can shine all over the world! Related Media Articles: Falun Dafa (aka Falun Gong) Information Center: http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=8709 Pretoria News: Chinese Group in Drive-By Shooting [Excerpt] http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/1/49720.html Sunday Times (South Africa): Chinese Protestor in SA Injured in Shooting http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1088584986.asp