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Chinese stopped from performing Falun Gong

DUBAI — A group of tourists who wanted to raise awareness of the traditional Chinese practice of Falun Gong were prohibited from performing their exercises and distributing fliers at the Global Village during the first week of the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Nancy Chen, an Australian of Chinese origin, told Khaleej Times, that on January 15, she and some practitioners performed Falun Gong exercises at some area in Gate 1 of the Global Village. They also distributed fliers and pamphlets of Falun Gong.

“On January 17, our second visit to the Global Village, we distributed the fliers once again. Someone informed the police, who stopped us and confiscated our fliers,” she said.

Chen, who works in the sales department of Epoch Times in Australia, added that they were questioned by the police and asked to show their passports.

When contacted, Ibrahim Abdul Rahim, Director, Global Village, told Khaleej Times: “They were stopped by the police from paractising Falun Gong at the Global Village. Before distributing fliers to visitors at the Global Village, they should have taken approval from the Ministry of Information of the UAE. We told them to get the approval and come back, but they never did.”

According to its practitioners, Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a “traditional Chinese self-cultivation practice that improves mental and physical well-being through a series of easy to learn exercises, meditation and development of one's heart, mind and nature”.