(Minghui.org) Standing in front of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark on April 25, 2013, Ms. Chen was in deep thought. Fourteen years have passed since Falun Gong practitioners' first April 25 Appeal in Beijing. The world has experienced a huge change, but Falun Gong practitioners' efforts to end the persecution have remained persistent.
Ms. Chen was in middle school in Beijing in 1999. She remembered that she went to appeal at the State Council Appeals Office in April 25 because practitioners in Tianjin had been arrested for clarifying the facts of Falun Gong. Ms. Chen recounted, “After our morning exercise on April 25, seven or eight of us didn't go home to change. We went straight to the State Council Appeals Office with our exercise sitting pads in hand. The police took us to the street close to the Zhongnanhai Compound [the seat of the central government]. We stood there quietly. Many read Falun Gong books while waiting. There was no shouting of slogans or noise. All we asked for was the release of arrested practitioners in Tianjin and our right to continue doing the Falun Gong exercises. The police were nervously on their guard at first, but after seeing how peaceful we were, they relaxed. Toward evening, we heard that the issue had been resolved and the practitioners in Tianjin had been released. We left happily. I didn't feel hungry or tired even though I had been standing for a whole day.”
Western media reported the appeal as a milestone in the history of appeals. Many people heard about Falun Gong from the appeal and started practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Poul Andersen is an eighty-five-year-old retired engineer. He started practicing Falun Gong in spring 1999 and follows Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance in his life. His fatigue and other symptoms caused by mercury in a tooth filling disappeared after he took up the practice. He thanks Falun Gong from the bottom of his heart. He hopes that more people will learn about Falun Gong and help stop the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) brutal persecution in China.
Mr. Andersen has been clarifying the facts of Falun Gong in front of the Chinese Embassy for ten years. He said, “Fourteen years have passed. The persecution hasn't stopped. We will continue our work until the CCP stops the persecution.”
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wu said, “The CCP's totalitarian government will never change its persecutory nature. It persecuted Falun Gong using the April 25 appeal as a pretext for the persecution. Falun Gong practitioners are killed every day. We are here to protest against the persecution and the crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. It must stop. Stop sending Falun Gong practitioners to forced labor camps. Release all imprisoned practitioners.”
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li said, “If I had been in China at that time, I would have gone to appeal too because I have benefited from practicing Falun Gong. Falun Gong is not political. Stepping out for the people under such brutal persecution proved Falun Gong's compassion and tolerance. Why do we expose the persecution? It's for the sake of all Chinese people.”
Falun Gong practitioners know that they have to tell people what is happening in China because many people still don't know the facts or don't understand them. They are confident that people will stand on the side of righteousness and help stop the persecution.