Falun Gong persecution a CNOOC deal-breaker, say protestors
Metro (Calgary, Canada Edition)
October 16, 2012
[Caption for photo: Demonstrators set up a mock organ harvest outside city hall in Calgary on Tuesday to protest what they described as persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China by CNOOC, a state-owned oil company. (Metro/Robson Fletcher)]
China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s bid to buy Nexen should not be allowed to proceed if the state-owned company continues to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in China, demonstrators in Calgary argued on Tuesday.
“If we allow this to happen, really, what are we becoming?” said Jenny Yang of the Calgary Falun Dafa Association. “This is a monstrous crime against humanity.”
Demonstrators set up a mock surgical operation in front of city hall as a graphic illustration of one of the most horrific allegations against the Chinese government, namely the live harvesting of organs from practitioners of the spiritual discipline that has been outlawed in China.
There is significant evidence that CNOOC persecutes followers of Falun Gong among its own staff, said Calgary Mountain View MLA David Swann, who took part in the demonstration.
In addition to labour camps and brainwashing programs, that persecution includes “potentially submitting them to the same type of forced organ donation that we have heard so much about in the last five years,” Swann said.
Shareholders of Nexen, a Calgary-based oil and gas giant, have approved CNOOC’s offer to buy the company but the deal is currently under review by the federal government.
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