(Clearwisdom.net) From February 17 to 19, practitioners in northeast Japan, volunteers of the Epoch Times and Sound of Hope Radio jointly held a 24-hour hunger strike relay in front of the Chinese Consulate in Sapporo to protest the Chinese Communist regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong ever since July 1999, and the recent assault on practitioner and technical chief of the Epoch Times. Dr. Yuan Li, by the regime's secret agents.

Protest in front of Chinese Consulate in Sapporo

Practitioners clarify truth to police

The protest started on the afternoon of February 17. Braving the wind and snow, they displayed truth-clarifying banners and posters and quietly protested in front of the Consulate. While holding a hunger strike relay, they practiced the Falun Gong exercises and sent righteous thoughts to peacefully express their heartfelt wishes. A teenage girl came with her mother to protest and stayed until late at night with others.

When practitioners explained the posters to police officers, pointing to photos of injured Dr. Yuan Li after the assault, the police asked: Did you come to Hokkaido by taking more than 10 hours of sea transportation because of this? Practitioners then clarified the truth of Falun Gong to the officers in depth and showed them all kinds of informational materials. One practitioner also gave them a copy of the Japanese version of Falun Gong as a gift, hoping that they will learn more about Falun Gong and understand why the Chinese Communist regime persecutes the practice in China and abroad, even as more than 100 million around the world have benefited from the practice both physically and mentally.

During the three-day activity, practitioners clarified the truth to passersby and Sapporo police. Just as many passersby were shocked by the brutality and expressed their sympathy to practitioners, the informed police officers also expressed that they understood the cause after chatting with practitioners.

A staff member of the Consulate photograph practitioners

Group practice in a park of Sapporo

During the protest, the Chinese Consulate across the street was mostly quiet. Occasionally, one or two cars came out with staff members of the consulate taking photos practitioners or watching the protest. On several occasions, vehicles of the Consulate drove back and forth around the protest site.

A practitioner said: On the morning of February 18, several practitioners were chatting with police officers on duty. A Chinese official walked out the Consulate and asked the officers in Japanese where practitioners obtained the money to conduct the protest. We then told him that we received money from nowhere and we came voluntarily to express our views. The official then asked us to speak Chinese. He questioned if we knew the situation in China. I said that we enjoyed the free media in Japan and knew very well that many Chinese civilians and Falun Gong practitioners were being persecuted in China, with nearly 3000 persecuted to death. I stated that we came here to protest the totalitarian regime. While we wanted to tell him more, he ran away in a hurry.

Before the protest, two local practitioners were threatened respectively by the Consulate. In addition, the Consulate also pressured the school and company that two practitioners were affiliated with, attempting to obstruct the two from participating in this protest.