Sir, - The sight of five people burning in Beijing's Tiananmen Square recently was horrifying. It is quite sad to think anyone would go to such desperate measures for any reason. Falun Gong sources insist that the ones who immolated themselves on the Chinese New Year were not Falun Gong practitioners. One may well, then, ask: who were they?
The Chinese Government has been making much of the incident through its news agency Xinhua, as well as Chinese State television, CCTV. As both of these bodies are tightly controlled by the Chinese leadership there can be no objectivity in their reports and anything they say should be viewed with a fair amount of scepticism.
This occurrence should not blind us to the real issue, which is that the Chinese authorities are in the process of an all-out attack on all "unauthorised worship". In one province alone some 450 churches and temples belonging to Buddhist and Christian groups have been destroyed. This figure may actually be much higher.
The Chinese Government has persecuted Falun Gong since 1999. Thousands have been arrested and large numbers of practitioners sent to labour camps - the Laogai - for punishment or "re-education through labour". The Trinity College postgraduate student Zhao Ming is among those detained without trial and tortured for the peaceful expression of his beliefs.
Falun Gong members have been subjected to torture and illtreatment to try to force them to renounce their faith in their spiritual practice. More than 100 practitioners have died as a result of this brutality. Practitioners have lost their jobs and some have gone into hiding. Lawyers are told not to represent Falun Gong practitioners facing trial, showing the Chinese authorities' blatant disregard for the rule of law and for justice. The Chinese Government have also copied the old Soviet method of sending people to psychiatric hospitals as a form of punishment.
Falun Gong practitioners continue to protest peacefully against this repression, displaying great courage. They know the consequences of unfurling a banner or practising Falun Gong in public or in private.
Would the Chinese Ambassador care to explain why such brutal methods are being used to smash a peaceful spiritual movement? - Yours, etc.,
Terry Butler, The Friends Of Zhao Ming, Church Road, East Wall, Dublin 3.