Chamber of Commerce Urged to Allow Falun Gong Group in San Francisco New Year Parade in Letter

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade is a “colorful pageantry of Chinese culture and tradition” and the largest of its kind outside of Asia, according to the local Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which has hosted the yearly celebration since 1958. This year, it will be held on Feb. 24. But as the event approaches, one Chinese group—Bay Area practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong—has been rejected from the parade, and it isn’t the first time it’s been told it wouldn’t be allowed to participate. Now, friends and supporters of the group are asking the chamber to uphold the freedoms celebrated in the United States by including the spiritual group in the celebration....