(Clearwisdom.net) On Saturday, July 15th, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners from the U.K., Switzerland and several other countries held a press conference and a grand parade in London, aiming to expose the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. They also called on people from all levels to work together to stop the Chinese regime's atrocities, so as to entirely put an end to the seven-year-long genocidal persecution against Falun Gong.
A press conference exposing the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities is held before the parade sets off
Over the past seven years, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted by means of illegal incarceration, fines, beatings, cruel torture and other forms of abuse; nearly 3,000 practitioners in China are confirmed to have been persecuted to death. Even more shocking is the recently-exposed atrocity of the Chinese Communist regime harvesting and selling organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit, and incinerating their bodies to destroy the evidence. These persecution crimes have fully exposed the Chinese Communist regime's intrinsically evil nature. On July 15th, at 12:00 noon, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of the Chinese Embassy in London to protest against the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities and persecution of Falun Gong.
The parade
Exercise demonstration |
People signing their names to support Falun Gong |
Several Members of the European Parliament and the British Parliament sent statements or letters to express their support for Falun Gong practitioners and to wish them great success in the activities. In his statement, Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, said that the Chinese Communist regime's evil atrocity of systematically harvesting and selling organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit is indeed extremely despicable and shameless. He said that the U.N. should conduct an investigation into these allegations. Mr. Helmer Roger, Member of the European Parliament, said that the Chinese Communist regime's persecution and torture against Falun Gong practitioners is extremely shameless, and that only after the CCP allows freedom of belief, can it be accepted and respected by the international community.
Mr. Peter Jauhal, president of the UK Falun Gong Association, said in the press conference: "In the seven-year long persecution against innocent law-abiding citizens, the Chinese Communist regime has exposed its intrinsically evil nature to the world's people. Its barbarian, cruel and base act is indeed extremely evil. The Chinese regime's persistent trampling of the Chinese people's lives, regardless of the peaceful and rational appeal for an end to the frantic persecution, has tarnished China's image."
He added: "After learning the seriousness of harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners, the whole world was shocked. That is a horrendous attempt to further annihilate innocent people. Canadian officials recently released a report of an independent investigation, concluding the organ-harvesting allegations were true. The report revealed that all levels in the Chinese Communist regime's governments, the people's courts, detention centers and hospitals are involved in this atrocious crime."
Mr. Jauhal continued, "Civilized people and countries shall not ignore the crime and keep silent as onlookers, while the atrocity is still going on. We appeal to the British government to initiate an investigation and condemn the brutal act openly, so as to support Falun Gong practitioners' human rights in China."
Democracy groups and advocates, such as the Chinese Alliance for Democracy, also gave remarks at the press conference to show their support for Falun Gong practitioners. The representative of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy said, "We would like to express our support for Falun Gong practitioners' freedom of belief and other basic legal rights, as these rights should have been protected by the Chinese Constitution and United Nations human rights conventions. Falun Gong practitioners are a social group with firm conviction and independent thinking. They also have the courage to strive for their belief at the cost of their lives. To defend freedom and human dignity through peaceful means, they have suffered tremendous tribulations. They indeed deserve our respect and admiration. Their spirit manifests the significance of the human pursuit of freedom and the value of life. Our sympathy and support for them is actually for ourselves, as they are defending human rights for all the people around the world. We would like to call on all the governments, civil groups and organizations around the world to take action together so as to protest against and stop the Chinese Communist regime's killing and inhuman crime of harvesting organs from living people."
The parade set off at about 1:00 p.m. The procession passed busy shopping streets, Chinatown, and finally arrived at St. Martin Square. Dozens of female practitioners in white clothing held the portraits of Chinese practitioners who were persecuted to death, in a solemn and respectful manner. Over twenty banners and display boards not only disseminated Falun Gong's principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" to the people along both sides of the streets, but they also exposed the atrocities of the Chinese Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. After seeing the photos of cruelly tortured Chinese Falun Gong practitioners on the banners and display boards, many passersby were shocked. Many of them approached practitioners and asked for flyers.
After the parade ended, Falun Gong practitioners delivered a petition to the Prime Minister's residence, to call on the U.K. government to conduct an investigation into the atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Afterward, practitioners held activities to promote Falun Gong at several locations in London, to help more people understand the persecution so as to put an end to the CCP's evil atrocities. After learning the facts of persecution, many local people expressed their anger and indignation towards the Chinese Communist regime and their support for Falun Gong practitioners. The petition-signing table was often crowded with people. Many said that the practitioners should tell more people about the facts of the persecution, as the more it is exposed, the persecution will not be able to last long.