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September 30, 2015

The Leader of China Brought a Little of China With Him to New York

By Larry OngEpoch Times | September 29, 2015

Last Updated: September 29, 2015 4:35 pm

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. Supporters of the CCP try to cover Fu Yuxia with the Chinese flag in an attempt to block her message (President Xi Jinping, Stop and Meet us, the Chinese Petitioners. Listen to us and Solve our Problems!!!). (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Fu Yuxia and her 7-year-old niece Fu Yuxia are harassed by supporters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while exposing land confiscation by authorities, near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. Li Fang Ge whose Shanghai home was robbed by the government in 2001, was beaten by police along with her parents in 2003 when they decided to appeal. Supporters of the CCP surrounded and covered her with the Chinese flag in an attempt to block her message and photos of her and her beaten parents. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Li Fang Ge whose Shanghai home was robbed by the government in 2001, was beaten by police along with her parents in 2003 when they decided to appeal. In an attempt to block her message and photos of her and her beaten parents, supporters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surrounded and covered her with the Chinese flag near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Li Fang Ge whose Shanghai home was robbed by the government in 2001, was beaten by police along with her parents in 2003 when they decided to appeal. In an attempt to block her message and photos of her and her beaten parents, supporters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surrounded and covered her with the Chinese flag near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who've had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria on Lexington Ave. between 48th Street and 47th Street in New York where Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is staying, on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—For tens minutes on Sept. 26, a scene more commonly witnessed in the Middle Kingdom surreally played out in a corner of Manhattan’s plush hotel district.

As a motorcade thought to be carrying Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping drove past a street junction on Lexington and 49th at about 2:00 p.m., about a dozen Chinese women and men in light sweaters suddenly dashed from the sidewalk and onto the street.

“Return my property! Give me justice!” they yelled; “My ancestors’ land doesn’t belong to the communists!”; or simply “Help! Help!” One sign, in Chinese and English, said: “Chinese Communist Party, return the property stolen from us!!!” while another asked the local government in the coastal metropolis of Shanghai to return their homes and human rights.

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who’ve had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

The men in dark suits weren’t far behind, lurching forward with big Chinese flags and small American flags. After a brief scrimmage, they had successfully disabled a number of the protesters by wrapping them up in their red flags.

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who’ve had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP by blocking their messages with Chinese flags near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Chinese people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many of them who’ve had their land confiscated by authorities, are harassed by supporters of the CCP near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

In an off-white neck brace and red jacket, Fu Yuxia stood in the streets with her 7-year-old niece Fu Yuxing and held aloft the sign “President Xi Jinping, Stop and Meet us, the Chinese Petitioners. Listen to us and Solve our Problems!” Aunt and niece quickly found themselves pushed onto the sidewalk by several of the assailants, who then surrounded them with red flags.

Fu Yuxia and her 7-year-old niece Fu Yuxia are harassed by supporters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while exposing land confiscation by authorities, near the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Sept. 26, 2015. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

An Epoch Times photographer captured photographs of the bewildered 7-year-old surrounded by aggressive Chinese men with gigantic red flags, trying to wrap her and her aunt up.

When the motorcade was out of earshot, the flag-bearing attackers suddenly dispersed and left the protesters as they were.

Speaking to Epoch Times after the incident, Li Fangge said that the protesters were from Shanghai, and had suffered persecution by the Chinese authorities for petitioning the loss of their property, which was forcibly seized from them in the early 2000s. They had spent many years seeking compensation from the local government and in Beijing, but were always rebuffed, often times violently.

Li Fang Ge whose Shanghai home was robbed by the government in 2001, was beaten by police along with her parents in 2003 when they decided to appeal. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Li and her parents even received a brutal beating after one petition session in 2003. To an Epoch Times photographer, Li showed pictures of her and her parents with large, angry-looking black bruises on their arms and thighs.

The men with flags were led by a Mr. Yang from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, according to what could be divined from interviews with individuals on the scene.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping was staying at the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue during the final leg of his first state visit to the United States.

Xi spoke at a United Nations session at its headquarters on Sept. 27, a day after the attack on the petitioners, and on Sept. 28 made his inaugural address to the UN General Assembly on its 70th anniversary celebrations.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping addresses the UN General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 28, 2015. (John Moore/Getty Images)

“China will continue to participate in building world peace,” he said.

With reporting by Samira Bouaou and Shi Ping.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1778508-the-leader-of-china-brought-a-little-of-china-with-him-to-new-york/