(Clearwisdom.net) On July 19, 2008, marking nine years of Falun Gong practitioners' opposing the persecution in China, Finnish Falun Gong practitioners held a truth-clarification activity at the seaside Esplanad Park in Helsinki. They called for an end to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong.

Learning about Falun Gong and the persecution

Reading the display boards about Falun Gong and the persecution

Esplanad Park is in the business center of Helsinki. There are many tourists there in mid-summer. In the middle of the park, Falun Gong practitioners set up a tent and hung banners worded, "Falun Dafa is good," "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong," and, "Stop the CCP's atrocities of live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners." They displayed many truth-clarification boards with information about Falun Gong and the persecution in China. Practitioners prepared truth-clarification flyers in many languages, and set up a table to collect signatures calling for a stop to the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong.

Over the past nine years, Falun Gong practitioners around the world have followed the principles of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, and unyielding in the face of the persecution, have maintained steady efforts to expose and bring an end to the persecution. Using all types of different peaceful means in each country and on many occasions, they continuously clarify the truth. Many countries and governments and their people have come to know the true situation, and have stood up to protest the persecution.

On July 19, many tourists from Sweden, France, Germany, England, Israel, Russia, Estonia, Thailand, Turkey, Luxembourg and other countries, as well as people from Finland, signed the petition in support of Falun Gong. Some of them praised the practitioners' peaceful activity against the persecution, some chatted with the practitioners and asked questions, wanting to know more about the situation, and some even directly helped to distribute flyers.

A practitioner talks to a visitor about the persecution in China

Many people signed a petition in support of Falun Gong

Signing the petition to protest the persecution

Support for Falun Gong

One older man signed his name and then asked practitioners for more leaflets in Finnish, Russian and English. He said he was a member of the Christian Church of Helsinki, and that there are followers of his faith from many countries at his church. He hoped that more people would come to know about the persecution of Falun Gong and he wanted to contact more people to help Falun Gong.

After a woman from Finland received a leaflet, she said in a very friendly manner to a practitioner, "I know Falun Gong and I support Falun Gong very much."

"You are not doing this for yourselves"

A practitioner named Anna said that a Finnish man told her that he had heard about the persecution of Falun Gong several years before, but did not know why the CCP persecuted the practice. He also asked, "Who gives you money? You must have a place where you receive money." Anna then told him about how the evil nature of the CCP cannot tolerate Falun Gong practitioners, who follow Truth, Compassion and Tolerance, and that the CCP slanders and defames Falun Gong in order to mislead people. She said that practitioners have clarified the truth for these nine years using their own money. All costs involved in making banners and poster boards, printing flyers, running media and travelling to various places to clarify the truth are paid for by the practitioners themselves. After he understood, the man said, "You are not doing this for yourselves."

"I won't go to the Olympics"

A visitor from Luxembourg wearing a T-shirt protesting the Beijing Olympics

Faber Fernang from Luxembourg wore an eye catching T-shirt. He first looked at the display boards, and gave his support by signing his name. Afterwards said to practitioners, "The CCP bid to host the Olympics for money, but its human rights record is extremely poor. Because of the Olympics they forcefully demolished buildings, and left people with nowhere to live. I won't go to the Olympics." When practitioners told him about how the CCP destroys traditional culture, and how it brutally persecutes Falun Gong, he said "It's terribly frightening".

A survivor of the persecution clarifies the truth

A female Falun Gong practitioner from China named Li Shiping experienced the CCP's persecution at the Harbin Labor Camp. Speaking in English, she shared her first-hand experience with people.

Although none of the Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to death in court, the number of Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death in prisons, labor camps, detention centers, and brainwashing centers is in the thousands. Among the fellow practitioners around Ms. Li in detention, three were persecuted to death. They were Wang Honggang, Li Wenrui, and Yin Anbang. These three practitioners were well-educated people, and they were only in their thirties.

Ms. Li herself was arrested by CCP officers four times. She was imprisoned in the notorious Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin for twenty months. She suffered mental and physical torture. After that, she lost her job and moved to another place far away. In 2007, she was fortunate to be able to leave China and come to Finland.

People stopped to listen attentively to Ms. Li Shiping's narration of her experiences and exposure of the CCP's crimes in the nine-year persecution of Falun Gong. More people signed the petition.

"This is my responsibility"

Anna began practicing Falun Dafa in the summer of 2006. This is her second time attending the "July 20^th" activities. She said, "Every time there is a truth-clarification activity, I try my best to attend because there are not many opportunities like this. July 20^th is a noteworthy date. I feel that I must come." From the beginning to the end of the event, she explained the facts to people in Finnish and English with a smiling face under the hot sun. Anna not only actively attends truth-clarification activities, but also regularly attends group Fa study and exercises. She also doesn't miss the peaceful protest activities outside the Chinese Embassy every workday. Last Wednesday was Anna's birthday, and she took a day off and went to the Chinese Embassy. She said, "This is my responsibility. Next week I'll have a four-day vacation. I will also go the Chinese Embassy to protest the persecution."