Practitioners of the banned Falun Gong meditation and exercise method gathered in two Georgia cities yesterday to appeal to world leaders to help end the ongoing persecution of the one hundred million Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Falun Gong is a traditional exercise and meditation practice based on the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. It was banned by the Chinese government in 1999 after the number of practitioners in China grew to be larger than the membership of the Communist Party. Then-Communist Chairman Jiang Zemin set up a Gestapo-like government organization, the “610” office and charged it to “eradicate” Falun Gong.

Falun Gong practitioners came to Georgia in order to raise awareness of the persecution to the world leaders attending the G-8 Summit.

In Brunswick, practitioners set up an exhibition of the various torture methods used against Falun Gong practitioners by in China. The horrifyingly real tableaux depicted people being shocked by electric batons, injected with psychotropic drugs, bound and beaten; just of few of the dozens of types of torture used by the Chinese government.

In Savannah, practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises, displayed photos depicting the history of Falun Gong, and distributed information about the practice, the persecution, and the effect the persecution has on the rest of the world.

Although the persecution has been going on for five years, has claimed thousands of lives, and has seen hundreds of thousands imprisoned in forced-labor camps without trial, the persecution has not received much attention from the world press. Falun Gong practitioners hope that when the thousands of international journalists gathered to cover the G-8 meeting learn the details of the persecution they will be moved to spread the news everywhere.

In Brunswick, Santa Clara, CA resident Yeong-Ching Foo told the press about the plight of her fiancé, Dr. Charles Lee. Dr. Lee, an American citizen, was arrested on a trip to China, and accused with planning to publicize the truth about the persecution to the Chinese people.

Sentence to three years hard labor, Lee has been force fed and beaten, Foo said.

"Right now he's being forced to do slave labor. They're trying to get him to confess to a crime he didn't commit and to renounce his beliefs," she said.

The Falun Gong practitioners intend to continue their appeals through Thursday, when the G-8 conference will end. The torture method exhibit will be set up in Savannah on Wednesday and Thursday, while practitioners will continue to demonstrate the exercises and dispense information in Savannah and Brunswick.