Practitioners of Falun Gong showed methods of torture used by Chinese authorities to terrorize their fellow practitioners in China on Prague's Old Town Square today in an effort to inform people about persecution of the movement in China and attract signatures to a petition for the release of prisoners.

Millions of people in China joined the movement, which espouses truth, compassion and tolerance, in the 1990s before it was banned in 1999 by the communist regime.

Thousands are said to have been executed and about 100,000 imprisoned in the persecution of the movement.

Siung Wei, a Falun Gong practitioner, said today that she was imprisoned, beaten and worked slave labor. She worked sewing gloves, sweaters and socks, which are then exported and sold in Europe.

Eventually, pressure from abroad supporting her led to her release.

Today, she has asylum in Germany and works on fighting for freedom for her fellow practitioners of Falun Gong.