‘Cowards and Bullies’: We demand answers after Falun Gong practitioner attacked outside Chinese consulate 🇨🇳

Falun Gong practitioners welcomed Rebel News’ billboard truck as it played footage of Lina Li’s attack and called for help identifying her attacker.

We took our newest campaign directly to the doorstep of the Chinese Consulate in Toronto on Monday, calling for the public’s help identifying the man caught on video attacking Falun Gong practitioner Lina Li.

Our digital billboard truck parked outside the consulate at 240 St. George Street, playing footage of the September 22 attack and a message: “Chinese Canadians have the same rights as every other Canadian.”

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice that emerged in China in the early 1990s, combining meditation and exercises with teachings centred on truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The Chinese Communist Party banned the practice in 1999 and launched a violent campaign of repression against its practitioners that continues today.

Li was peacefully protesting outside the consulate when a man wearing a jacket bearing the Chinese flag began tearing down banners calling for an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong.

Video shows the man confronting Li as she attempted to protect the banners and threatening her. He also claimed the public sidewalk was “Chinese territory.” Li was left bleeding from her chin, while fellow practitioner Nora Geng said she was kicked while filming the confrontation.

The man left the scene before police arrived, and his identity and any potential affiliation remain unconfirmed.

Following Rebel News’ initial report on the incident, the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto denied any connection to the man, telling Rebel News: “The man in the video has no connection with the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Toronto. We strongly oppose any malicious implication or false accusations made to damage the reputation of China and the Consulate-General.”

When we came to the consulate, Falun Gong practitioners were once again standing outside with their banners.

Practitioners told us they demonstrate there every weekday, except holidays, to raise awareness about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong and transnational repression extending beyond China’s borders.

Several told me this was not the first time practitioners had faced aggression outside the consulate. What made Li’s case different was that the confrontation was captured on camera and spread across the internet.

The practitioners welcomed our billboard truck and our campaign message to identify the man. One woman told us we were doing what the police had failed to do.

Now we are asking Canadians to help identify the man caught on camera outside the consulate and calling on the federal government to take action against foreign intimidation on Canadian soil.

@ScarlettGrace92