News from Swedish Practitioners

Validating the Fa on Chinese New Years Eve in Stockholm, Sweden Over fifty Swedish practitioners gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm at 2:00 pm January 23 (the the Chinese New Years eve). Reporters and photographers from TT, Swedish Radio, TV stations and some newspapers were on the spot to follow the event. We did the five exercises, holding up banners with "Jiang Zemin stop murdering Falun Gong-practitioners" and "Stop the persecution on Falun Gong" and so on. We left an open letter to the Chinese government addressing an end to the brutal persecution. However, the letter had to be left in the mailbox as no one from the embassy would come down to the gate and get it personally. It was all well documented by journalists and photographers who followed the representatives of practitioners to the gate. At 3:00 pm, a peaceful parade was held by the practitioners. With torches, banners and signs in hand, we walked from the Chinese Embassy to the Sergel's square - the center of the city. We continued our peaceful demonstration with a meeting in the square. On the stage, we released our press-statement, announced the open letter to the Chinese government and read some human rights' reports about the brutal treatment that women practitioners and children receive in China. Two practitioners shared their experience about their visit in China during the last Christmas and new year. One representative from Amnesty International as well as two Members of the Swedish Parliament held speeches in which they condemn the Chinese leaders for the persecution of Falun Gong and asked them to respect human rights. Meantime during the whole evening practitioners were passing flyers to the public and collecting signatures for a petition to the Swedish government, urging an official deprecation of the Chinese government's brutal persecution towards Falun Gong. Many people signed their name on our petition letter and asked questions about Falun Gong and the persecution in China with a great concern. Greetings to Master Li and practitioners all over the world. Practitioners from Gothenburg wish Master Li Happy New Year! The celebration in Gothenburg, the second biggest town in Sweden, was held on the central square of the town. 125 candles each representing Chinese practitioners who lost their life by the brutality of the PRC illuminated the square. Hongfa in Dalarna In January we did Hongfa and told the truth about Falun Gong in two cities in Dalarna (in the middle of Sweden). We had exhibitions at libraries, Falun Gong introductory classes, newspaper/radio reports, information meetings about the situation in China, and we spread flyers to people on the streets. The response was very good and many people began learning the practice. Hong Fa like this will soon be continued on new areas in Dalarna and in northern Sweden. Swedish practitioners Hongfa in Sweden (Malmoe) On the Saturday morning of January 27, practitioners from different cities travelled a long way to gather in Malmoe, the third largest city in Sweden with approximately 300 thousand inhabitants, to participate in this Hongfa-activity at Gustav Adolfs square (this place is considered as the center of the city and usually very crowded, especially on weekends). By the time when everyone arrived we had ten practitioners, two from Malmoe, and eight people from different places such as Lund, Varberg, Gotenberg, Ronneby. We had two banners with us; one saying: "Stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners" and the other read: "Falun Gong." On that day, the sun was shining, the sky was unusually clear and a lot of people were in downtown. It was just a perfect opportunity to Hongfa! Due to lack of practitioners, most of the Hongfa activities in Malmoe have recently been restricted to giving flyers to people at shopping malls, setting up posters at libraries, sending information to different authorities, etc. We did not do the exercises much in public places. Different people have different mentalities. Some people need to take a close look at us, see us, feel the energy, or even attack us in order to believe in what we say. So it's important to adopt a range of different ways and not get stuck into one approach. We thought that by practicing the movements at this eye-catching spot of the city, we would show the people that we do not have anything to hide and they can approach us and talk to us if they have any question or any kind of doubt about Dafa being righteous. We started at 11:00 am. Two or three practitioners gave flyers to people while the others were doing the exercises. By the time we were finished (at 4:00 pm) there were at least 700 flyers given away to people bypassing. There were also many people who signed our petition to Swedish authorities. We completed the day by having a small experience-sharing conference at a practitioner's place later on that day. It was a very successful hongfa activity and all of us felt really well about the whole event.