Threats Against Falun Gong Practitioners Spark Billboard Protest Outside Consulate

TORONTO, Canada — A confrontation outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto involving Falun Gong practitioners has sparked attention and concern among human rights activists after Canadian independent outlet Rebel News sent a large LED billboard truck to the area days later.

Video circulating on social media showed the truck parked near the Chinese Consulate, its large electronic screens displaying images and information related to the Sept. 22 confrontation. The move followed an incident in which an unidentified man wearing a jacket bearing the Chinese flag tore down banners and threatened Falun Gong practitioners demonstrating outside the consulate.

RELATED: Toronto Attack on Falun Gong Practitioner Draws Calls for Federal Scrutiny

A violent, unprovoked confrontation

The confrontation took place outside the Chinese Consulate at 240 St. George Street in Toronto at around 9 a.m. Video from the scene shows the man approaching Falun Gong practitioners and pulling down banners and display materials they had placed along the sidewalk. At one point, a female practitioner told him, “This is Canada,” and urged witnesses to call police.

During the clash, the man insisted the area outside the consulate was “Chinese territory” and repeatedly made violent threats at practitioners at the scene. “I will kill you!” he said at one point, while also claiming that if they were in China he could have them shot. Video of the incident showed 62-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Li Na with a bleeding injury to her chin following the altercation.

For the best of our weekly content！

You are now signed up for our newsletter

Check your email to complete sign up

The Chinese Consulate subsequently told Rebel News that the man seen in the video had “no connection” with the consulate and rejected what it described as efforts to “damage the reputation of China and its diplomatic mission.”

LED truck raising awareness

Several days after the confrontation, video posted online showed Rebel News’ mobile billboard truck near the consulate. Unlike the paper banners and signs damaged during the earlier encounter, the vehicle is fitted with large high-resolution LED screens capable of continuously displaying video, images and text.

In August, Rebel News reported that Toronto police had stopped the vehicle three times within roughly six weeks in connection with material displayed on its screens. In one incident outside a WNBA game, police issued the driver two tickets totaling C$1,230 after officers objected to content being shown on the truck. Rebel News has disputed the enforcement action and said it intends to challenge the tickets.

Its appearance outside the Chinese Consulate was interpreted by supporters online as a response to the destruction of the Falun Gong practitioners’ displays as banners could be ripped down, but a large vehicle-mounted electronic screen would be considerably harder to remove.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Despite being peaceful in nature, the CCP launched a brutal campaign to eradicate the practice in July 1999 after seeing its rapid rise in popularity as a threat to its authoritarian regime. Since then, thousands of practitioners have perished at the hands of Chinese police, with many today still undergoing routine monitoring, arbitrary travel bans, and arrests.

Concerns over transnational repression

The confrontation has also renewed discussion of transnational repression, efforts by foreign governments or their proxies to intimidate, threaten or silence critics beyond their own borders. Canada’s security agencies have repeatedly warned that such activity poses a national security concern.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) defines transnational repression as efforts by foreign states, directly or indirectly, to intimidate, influence or retaliate against individuals or groups living abroad. Its latest assessment identifies the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the most active state conducting foreign interference in Canada by both scale and scope, and states that Beijing will “almost certainly” continue engaging in transnational repression.