(Clearwisdom.net) Beginning this year, Falun Gong practitioners from the Czech Republic and Slovakia have supported each other and held truth-clarification activities almost every weekend in various cities to help people learn about Falun Gong and the persecution in China. On June 18, 2005, practitioners from the Czech Republic and Slovakia held a truth-clarifying poster exhibition and anti-torture demonstration in front of the famous statue of Pomnik Jana Husa in the old town area of the capital city of Prague. Crowds of people came to watch, and many who learned about the truth signed a petition expressing their support. Local mainstream media outlets came to cover the event.

On one side of the statue, practitioners set up big pictures introducing the five sets of Falun Gong exercises along with an exercise demonstration. On the other side were paintings exposing the methods of torture employed by Chinese Communist Party officials in their attempts to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs, along with torture reenactments.

Group practice

Torture reenactment

Torture reenactment

Passersby watch the anti-torture exhibition

Passersby watch the anti-torture exhibition

Mainstream media conducts interviews

Practitioners acted out scenes from prisons and forced labor camps in China, where officials abuse and torture Falun Gong practitioners using a variety of methods such as shocking with electric batons, sleep deprivation and long-term detention in a tiny cage where it is impossible to stand or lie down. The main goal of the torture is to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs and betray their consciences.

Before the anti-torture demonstration began, a large number of people who had been sitting in the area now began stretching their necks to obtain a better view. Many people could not bear to watch, but neither could they tear themselves away, and some could only watch the show from a long way off, silently and sadly. Others filmed the demonstration with cameras and mobile telephones. One after another, people signed the petition showing their support, including tourists from different countries.

Cesha Televise 1 (CT1), the main television station in the Czech Republic, aired a report about the Falun Gong practitioners' appeal. The station also produced a special cultural program about Xiong Wei, a practitioner from Germany who was abused in Chinese forced labor camps before being rescued and allowed to return to Germany.

The Czech Republic has a population of over 10 million people, including a great number of Roman Catholics. It broke loose from the Iron Curtain in 1989 and regained its freedom. Together with Slovakia, it became an independent nation in 1993.

Since Falun Gong was introduced to the public in 1992, it has brought deeper meaning to the lives of millions of people, and its moral teachings have had a strong impact on society. In Falun Gong, many Czechs who yearned for health and kindness have found what they were seeking. Falun Gong is now practiced in 78 countries, and a Falun Gong Association has been set up in the Czech Republic.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200507/27613.html