Issued by Clearwisdom Net

May 27th, 2006, was St. Petersburg's 303rd anniversary. Although it was relatively cold, people in this ancient city still held all kinds of celebration activities in the streets and squares. With permission from City Hall, Falun Gong practitioners participated in the celebration activities at a square in the city center.

People inquiring about the facts of Falun Gong

A demonstration of the graceful Falun Gong exercises

The practitioners played Falun Dafa music, recited poems and demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. They also displayed information detailing how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) brutally persecutes Falun Gong practitioners. The pictures revealed to the people the cruel persecution that Falun Gong practitioners in China have suffered during the past seven years. Many people stood in front of the display boards for a long time while listening to practitioners explaining the facts. They showed their sympathy and support to the practitioners.

Many people, especially young people and children, surrounded the small table at which practitioners were making folded paper lotus flowers. The practitioners made the lotus flowers as they explained how innocent Falun Gong practitioners in China are being persecuted. In this way, people learned the deep meaning behind the little lotus flowers. A little girl sat at the table, watching her mother make a lotus flower for her. She would not leave until her mother signed the petition book to support the campaign to end the persecution of Falun Gong.

Regardless age and gender, after learning the truth people all signed the petition to condemn the persecution

An old woman watched the exercise demonstration carefully. She said, "I like them very much. I will definitely come practice the exercises at your practice site."

A group of young people were riding by on their bicycles. When they got to the practitioners' table, they were laughing and joking. However, after listening to the practitioners talking about the facts of the persecution in China, they became quiet and solemn. They seriously signed their names in the petition book to support the anti-persecution campaign.

There are always policemen on duty when Falun Gong practitioners hold activities, so there are always some policemen having the opportunity to hear the facts about Falun Gong. After learning the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution, the policemen always change a lot. Below are some stories.

When a practitioner introduced Falun Gong to a deputy chief of a police station and told him about the persecution happening in China, the practitioner told him a story: During the past New Year, practitioners introduced Falun Dafa to a police officer who was in charge of prisons. They also gave him some Dafa books. Then, he distributed the books to some prisoners. After reading the Dafa book, a murderer wrote, "I was so shocked after reading the book. If I had read the book before, I would definitely not have committed any crimes." The deputy chief was delighted to hear the story and accepted the Dafa book. He said gladly, "It was a good thing." He told the practitioner that he wanted to provide practitioners with an exercise site free of charge. He also invited Falun Dafa practitioners to introduce Dafa in his police station. He said, "There will be more people interested in Dafa there."

After hearing the facts, a policeman who lives in Urfa asked a practitioner whether there were Falun Gong practitioners in Urfa. The practitioner said that there were. He immediately asked the practitioner to ask practitioners in Urfa to come out to clarify the truth and promote Falun Dafa publicly, because he really hoped that people in his hometown could know that Falun Dafa is good. Some local policemen placed decorated paper lotus flowers on their cars and took them everywhere they went in the city.

More and more people are paying attention to the persecution happening in China and signing the petition to support Falun Gong. More and more people have realized that Falun Dafa brings goodness to people.

On May 6th, 2006, Swiss Falun Gong practitioners once again held an anti-torture exhibition at the famous tourist spot, Schwanenplatz, in the city of Lucerne, Switzerland. There were also display boards and petitions to be signed to call for an end to the persecution.

Many people were shocked to see the live reenactment in which "doctors" and "nurses" harvested organs from "patients." The actors were Falun Gong practitioners, reenacting the crimes taking place in China. When people realized that the scene in front of them really took place in China, where organs were harvested from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit, they signed the petition one by one. Many said to the practitioners, "Thank you for telling us about this. Well done!"

The photo of Ms Gao Rongrong's disfigured face riveted the attention of a woman in her fifties. A practitioner told her, "Ms Gao was a Falun Gong practitioner. She was illegally detained by the Chinese regime and she was shocked with electric batons for seven hours non-stop to disfigure her face. After this photo was made public to the international community, Ms Gao was kidnapped again by the authorities and was tortured to death in less than three months."

The woman's face got more concerned as she listened. She sighed and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?" The practitioner told her about the various petitions on the table which she could sign. One was about calling for a stop to the persecution and another about rescuing the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners and their children. This woman was also informed about the organ harvesting in China. She signed all the petitions on the table and bought a Falun Gong book, expressing her interest in learning the practice.

Some passing students initially didn't want to take any fliers. However, upon seeing the organ harvesting reenactment, they all stopped. After practitioners told them about the persecution of Falun Gong in China, they took the fliers and lined up to sign the petition.

A group of tourist gladly accepted the fliers and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. They asked, "There are many people practicing Falun Gong in Taiwan. Why is it persecuted in China?" Practitioners told them that Falun Gong teaches the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, which could not be tolerated by the Chinese Communist regime which embraces lies and violence.

A practitioner also shared with them that after reading the Nine Commentaries, an editorial published by the Epoch Times newspaper, people started to realize the evil nature of the Communist Party and understand why Falun Gong is being persecuted. The organ harvesting activity was mentioned to the Taiwanese tourists. One woman said that she had already learned about it from an e-mail sent to her. They all signed the petitions.

"Look! What's that...? " Some Chinese tourists exclaimed after seeing the reenactment of organ harvesting and the displays. Practitioners offered them some information about the persecution. Some accepted the materials readily, some told the practitioners that they had already read the materials in the hotel, and some looked at the Nine Commentaries but were too scared to take them. Practitioners informed them of the organ harvesting in China and the fact that more than ten million Chinese people had publicly quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.

On May 10, 2006, "The Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibition was held in Furth im Wald, a small city in Bavaria, Germany. Local media reported the photo exhibition.

Local media reports in Furth im Wald

The Koetzting Daily published a story entitled, "Pictures make people think about the dark side of China; Falun Gong photo exhibition at municipal hall touches the people; Go watch it." The report said that 80 pictures of Falun Gong practitioners around the world were shown in the old municipal hall in Furth im Wald. The pictures showed the enduring spirit of Falun Gong and the efforts by Falun Gong practitioners around the world to protect human rights in China.

"We want to have people see this photo exhibition, and hope that through these pictures people will understand the tragedy taking place in China now," Ms. Teng, a member of the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group, said at the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition.

The Mayor of Furth im Wald, Johannes Mueller, mentioned in his speech that Falun Gong is an ancient Chinese cultivation of body, mind, and spirit, guided by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. There are five sets of simple and easy exercises that have a powerful effect. However, Falun Gong was banned by the Communist Party of China in 1999. Mayor Mueller said, "This peaceful cultivation practice was slandered as superstition in China. Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted from then on and suffered cruel torture." Mayor Mueller said that he wished that more people could experience the practitioners' belief in Dafa and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance from the photo exhibition.

Mr. Roemer, from an international human rights association, mentioned that Falun Gong was well received by the people and the Chinese government shortly after it was introduced to the public in 1992. Within seven years, there were 100 million people practicing Falun Gong. The Chinese Communist Party initiated its persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. From then on, Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted and tortured. Not long ago, the news that living Falun Gong practitioners' organs were harvested for profit at secret concentration camps shocked the world. Mr. Romer stressed, "China is the Number One country for torture."

Not long ago, Falun Gong practitioners risked their lives to successfully interrupt national TV broadcasting to expose the CCP's lies and to let people know the truth. The goal of Falun Gong and the international human rights organization is to help more people know about the persecution of human rights, and urge people around the world to take action. "Everybody should contribute their own strengths to prevent inhumane persecution."

Then, Ms. Teng and members of the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group gave the mayor a guided tour of the photo exhibition.

The above-mentioned report was also published in the free weekly, Chamland Aktuell on May 17.

Report in the Chamland Aktuell

The day after the photo exhibition was opened, the Bayerwald-Echo published a report, entitled, "Furth im Wald municipal government: spending efforts for human rights in Chin; Falun Gong photo exhibition records cruelty." The report said that Mayor Johannes Mueller opened the Falun Gong photo exhibition. The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group hoped that people would see the truth through the pictures.

Ms. Teng, a representative of the Falun Gong human rights work group, mentioned that human rights were trampled in China at present. Since President Jiang Zemin banned and tried to eliminate Falun Gong out of envy and fear in 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have been tormented and maltreated. So far already 2,800 practitioners have been persecuted to death and at least 38,000 practitioners have been tortured [Editor's note: the actual number is much higher]. The pictures not only presented the peaceful exercises but also cruel tortures. This photo exhibition hopes to draw the attention of people to this cruel fact. A petition circulated by Falun Gong practitioners collected a large number of signatures.