By Gong Ping, Epoch Times Staff, May 19, 2008-

FLUSHING, New York—Participants in a rally urging Chinese to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were attacked and a 70-year-old retired engineer was beaten on Saturday afternoon on the streets of Flushing in New York City.

According to participants in the rally, the attack was not spontaneous. One of the attackers shouted in Chinese into his cell phone "Hurry! Bring more people over here. Each person will be paid 90 dollars."

The rally took place on the street outside the main library in Flushing. It was organized by the Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party based in Flushing and called for support for the 36 million Chinese who have signed declarations quitting the CCP.

The attack on the rally seems to have been coordinated with Chinese-language media that are controlled or influenced by the CCP. These media outlets, such as CCTV, ordinarily do not cover rallies held to urge people to quit the CCP.

On Saturday, these media outlets were present in force. Immediately after the event ended, they published and broadcast stories whose themes were that the participants in this rally "do not care about the victims of the Sichuan earthquake" and "do not love China."

Witnesses at the scene saw individuals providing drinks and Chinese flags to the crowd that gathered to oppose the rally for quitting the CCP. Other individuals worked to arrange the scene to provide CCTV with good opportunities for filming.

Part of a Pattern

The attack in Flushing is part of a pattern of counter-protests, sometimes violent, organized by the Chinese regime as the Olympics became a lightning rod for protests against it.

When the Olympic Torch Relay began encountering protests from Tibetans and others, the Chinese regime prepared large counter protests, sometimes bussing Chinese students hundreds of miles to take part in an attempt to disrupt the protests.

The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) is holding rallies in 40 countries around the world devoted to the proposition that "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China."

These rallies have also often encountered organized efforts to disrupt them.

Ordered in Beijing

Zhou Yongkang is said by inside sources to be the individual behind the effort to organize Chinese protests meant to disrupt the rally in Flushing on Saturday, and other rallies held these past several months.

Zhou's official position is head of the Central Political and Legislative Committee. He is known to be one of the principle figures behind the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong and has been sued in several countries for crimes against humanity and torture he is believed to have authorized in China.

Zhou is said to have used the regime's espionage network, its influence over Chinese Student and Scholar Associations, local community organizations influenced by the CCP, and local thugs to disrupt events such as protests of the Olympic Torch Relay and the HRTR rallies.

The attack in Flushing, with the interpretation given it by regime-influenced Chinese-language media, appears to be an attempt to play on the strong feelings evoked by the disastrous earthquake in Sichuan in order to stigmatize opposition to the Chinese regime.

- Source: The Epochtimes: Peaceful Rally Attacked in New York City's Chinatown