美国加州威特每日新闻（Whittier Daily News）11月11日报道，法轮功组织继上月阻挠“北京奥运花车”参加帕萨迪纳市2008新年“玫瑰游行”的提议遭拒后，11月11日，又变换花样，向帕市提出申请，要在明年“玫瑰游行”活动举行之前，搞所谓的法轮功“人权圣火”游行，意在继续抵制和骚扰“奥运花车”游行，帕萨迪纳玫瑰游行组委会断然否决了法轮功的这一无理要求。

　　此前的10月29日，帕萨迪纳市议会还否决了法轮功企图阻止一辆“北京奥运花车”参加玫瑰游行活动的提议。

　　报道说，某些人打着“人权”幌子阻挠“奥运花车”参加玫瑰游行的图谋失败后，以“平息所谓因奥运花车引起的不满”为借口，要求在玫瑰游行前搞一个所谓的“人权圣火”游行。实际上，目前正在世界一些地方巡游的“人权圣火”接力，恰恰正是法轮功组织为反对北京奥运而开展的一项活动。

　　市政官员辛西娅·库尔兹（Cynthia Kurtz）正告加州理工学院法轮功俱乐部会长约翰·李：玫瑰游行举行期间街道将非常繁忙，各街区任何事务都要为玫瑰游行让路。从12月中旬至明年1月1日期间，玫瑰赛事基本控制科罗拉多大道，因此不可能再容纳另一项活动。

　　支持“奥运花车”的帕萨迪纳市市长比尔·博加德先生（Bill Bogaard）近日曾向市议会宣读了来自玫瑰花车游行组委会主席凯迪(C.L. Keedy)的一封来信，声明花车游行的政治中立性。凯迪在信中表示相信“奥运花车”不会成为议会之虑。

　　此外，玫瑰赛事官员对那些法轮功人员提出的异议均不予理会，并拒绝就这件事进行更多讨论。玫瑰赛事发言人Caryn Eaves强调：“如果有人想要做出一些扰乱帕萨迪纳玫瑰游行的事来，将由警务部门出面解决。”显然，Caryn Eaves的话是有所针对的。

　　一年一度的玫瑰花车游行是美国西南海岸帕萨迪纳市的一项传统盛事。当玫瑰游行组委会年初宣布玫瑰游行将包括一辆庆祝北京2008奥运会花车时，人们认为，这在该市119年的花车游行传统历史上具有重要的意义。然而这一原本与政治无关的民间活动却遭遇一些别有用心者的阻挠。

Falun Gong's march before parade rejected

According to Whittier Daily News reported on November 11, dismissing the idea of a so-called human-rights procession before the start of next year's Rose Parade as an attempt to "disrupt" its annual event, the Tournament of Roses has refused to discuss the idea.

The Pasadena City Council rejected a city commission's recommendations to rebuke China's rights record and took no action regarding the Olympic float on Oct. 29.

Those objecting to the planned Chinese Olympic float on human-rights grounds are calling for the inclusion of the "Human Rights Torch Relay" currently touring the world to balance the furor caused by the float. 

But City Manager Cynthia Kurtz told John Li, one of the principal float opponents and president of Caltech's Falun Gong club on Monday it would likely be "impossible" to accommodate another event on such a busy day and that any event on the street would require Tournament support, because the Tournament essentially controls Colorado Boulevard from mid-December through Jan. 1.

Recent, Mayor Bill Bogaard, who supports having the float in the parade, read a letter to the council from Tournament of Roses President C.L. Keedy to assert the apolitical nature of the parade.

"We believe it is important to separate the issue of the Rose Parade float from any action that the city of Pasadena may choose to undertake in support of human rights in China and elsewhere. As mentioned on numerous occasions, we do not believe our parade nor our entries in the parade support government policies anywhere in the world. As a result, we believe the issue of the float should be removed from the consideration of possible council actions," Keedy's letter stated.

Besides, Tournament officials have remained silent on the growing controversy and have refused to discuss the matter or return phone calls.

"If someone wants to do something to disrupt the parade in Pasadena, then that's something for the Police Department" to respond to, Tournament spokeswoman Caryn Eaves said.

(www.facts.org.cn, November 15, 2007)