Falun Gong protest heralded 'sensitive period'
Jiang Zemin expressed shock and warned of 'the arrival of a sensitive period' on the day in 1999 when more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners surrounded Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound in central Beijing.
In a letter sent to the Politburo Standing Committee on April 25 that year - days before the government launched a national crackdown against the group - Mr Jiang said he was surprised by the group's discipline and internal communications, saying the protest was the biggest since the 1989 Tiananmen student demonstrations. He suspected it was being manipulated by western forces.
'After the incident took place, western media reported immediately and made sensational exaggerations. Is it related to overseas or western [forces]? Is it plotted by some capable 'hands' behind the scene?'' he said in the letter.
Mr Jiang was shocked that security authorities were caught 'completely unaware'.
Two days before the protest, Falun Gong practitioners stormed a magazine's newsroom. 'Before that, Falun Gong followers had already surrounded government offices or staged sit-ins at local governments, without raising serious concerns among local governments and departments,' Mr Jiang said.
