Investigations of Flushing Officials to Start Soon

Members of The Committee to Recall John Liu and Ellen Yang: (L-R) Zheng Kexue, Tang Boqiao, Bian Hexiang, Zhang Guowei, Judy Chen, Liu Guohua. Zhong Tao/The Epoch Times

FLUSHING, New York City—The Committee to Recall New York City Council Member John Liu and New York State Assemblywoman Ellen Young has collected over 769 signatures from Flushing residents which call for the removal of Liu and Young from office.

A press conference was held on July 30 to discuss the committee’s progress, after which the signatures requesting the removal of Liu and Young were handed over to the New York City Council and State Assembly shortly after the conference ended. According to members of the Committee, a government investigation into the practices of both Liu and Young will also soon be underway.

“Our Committee to recall New York City Council Member John Liu and New York State Assemblywoman Ellen Young delivered a petition to the United States Congress which they’ve received. They responded that they value this issue very much,” said Guohua Liu, a committee member. “They are forming an investigation organization, but they can’t do it themselves so they requested the FBI to investigate. The specific date is also decided, starting next week.”

“We also delivered the petition to the United States Department of Justice, along with our committee’s and Flushing resident’s thoughts on this issue,” Guohua Liu said.

The committee was established on July 4 due to Liu and Young’s behavior in light of the attacks. Following the string of violence in Flushing, Falun Gong practitioners had attempted to meet with Liu and Young, but their calls for support fell on deaf ears from the two officials. 

It was later reported that Liu and Young had instead been meeting with those who had attacked the Falun Gong practitioners. When Falun Gong practitioners had finally managed to meet with Liu and Young nearly two months later, Liu denied knowledge of any of the violence while Young diverted questions.

Bian Xiang, also from the committee mentioned that many Flushing residents support the committee in their campaign to remove Liu and Young from office.

Xiang said that Liu’s finances will be investigated. “The next step we are going to take is to submit it to legal system in America, John Liu has been collecting money all this time even after he is elected…. We will look into it to see whether it is bribing involved,” he said.

Xiang had been present during one of the meetings with Liu. Xiang said that during the meeting a video was shown of the violence in Flushing. When Liu denied seeing the violence even after seeing the video, Xiang had stood up to speak out against the congress member’s lack of support for the Falun Gong practitioners.

“I didn’t have the tolerance that Falun Gong practitioners had while watching the violent video [from the Flushing attacks] where Council Member Liu denied that what he saw was violence against Falun Gong practitioners,” said Xiang. “That’s why I stood up right there to state the three points I addressed at that meeting.”

“I did that because I was deeply touched by the Falun Gong practitioners,” said Xiang.

Many Falun Gong practitioners feel that the recent violence is an extension of the persecution onto foreign soil before the Olympics. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a Chinese meditation and spiritual practice that is based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and has been targeted for persecution by the Communist regime in China since 1999.

“This committee is in the benefit of Flushing residents and we’ve received tremendous support from Flushing. So far, on Main Street alone, we’ve received close to 800 signatures in support of this action which is still continuing,” said Xiang.

The violence against Falun Gong practitioners took place near the Queens Library on Main Street, Flushing. The violence began on May 17 and was caused by hundreds of pro-Communist Chinese who physically attacked and made death threats towards Falun Gong practitioners in the area. The attacks continued for several weeks afterwards.

Recently, similar attacks have also occurred in other countries, including France and Poland. At least 16 of the attackers were arrested while there have been no reports of Falun Gong practitioners fighting back, in accordance with their belief in nonviolence.

As the violence has died down, many of the former attackers have taken to passing materials that spread the Chinese Communist Party’s hate propaganda against Falun Gong. Xiang commented on the hate groups.

“I’ve heard that there are people organizing some Chinese organization to sign some sort of form to expel Falun Gong from the community,” said Xiang. “If these people are still committing such crimes against mainstream society, I’m going to urge the U.S. government to eliminate all of these illegal organizations from the U.S.”