The performing of Falun Gong practitioners was stopped for others' complain at an opening ceremony of a new battlefront in the parking lot of Asian City, a large shopping center and food court, according to Cityweekly.net on November 30, 2011.
"We are just holding a grand-opening celebration," says Hannah Tian of Asian City, a spokesperson for the business. She argues that they never intended to invite controversy to their celebration and thought they were booking performers to do a Tai Chi demonstration. "We don't want to get involved in anything political."
While the host business is unaware of who had complained, someone in the gathering recognized the emblem of the Falun Gong and objected to their presence.
In 2009, festival organizers denied Falun Gong space at the Asian Festival, arguing that Falun Gong broke program rules in 2007 at the Utah Asian Festival, held annually in Sandy, by failing to pay their fees and blocking sponsor banners during a performance demonstration of the group's meditation exercises.
But Asian City's Tian says her company hired an event planner who was unfamiliar with Falun Gong and mistakenly booked the group to perform a Tai Chi demonstration. When some in the crowd spotted the members' uniforms carrying the name Falun Gong, they complained to the planner.
Tian says the members were asked to wear different uniforms if they wanted to perform their demonstration—they declined, she says, and the group left peaceably.
(Cityweekly.net, November 30, 2011)
