(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held a parade in Nuremberg on December 10, 2022, to commemorate Human Rights Day. They also held a rally and distributed information about Falun Dafa and told people how the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has persecuted Dafa practitioners for the past 23 years. 

Falun Dafa practitioners held a parade in Nuremberg, Germany, on December 10 to celebrate Human Rights Day. 

With the subsidence of COVID, the Nuremberg Christmas Market reopened and the Old Town was once again filled with visitors. The Tian Guo Marching Band led the parade, which featured three sections. The first showcased the benefits of practicing Falun Dafa, a second section raised awareness about the persecution, with photos of practitioners who died in the brutal repression, and the last section advocated the dissolution of the CCP. The parade set off at Hallplatz and passed White Tower, St. Elizabeth Church, and St. Jacobs Church, ending at Jakobsplatz and the Street of Human Rights, where practitioners held a rally to expose the ongoing persecution in China. 

Practitioners held a rally in front of the Human Rights sculpture and told the people about the persecution in China. 

Nuremberg is the second largest city in Bavaria, Germany. It was here that the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals were held after World War II. In 1988, Die Straße der Menschenrechte (the Street of Human Rights) was constructed in Nuremberg. Article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is engraved on each of the 27 pillars along the street, in different languages, to remind mankind to never forget the historic lesson of WWII and make the same mistake.

Falun Dafa practitioners talk to passersby about the persecution in China on Jakobsplatz. 

Many people stopped to talk with practitioners and took photos and videos of the parade. After they learned of the extent of the egregious human rights violations in China, many people signed the petition demanding that the CCP end the persecution. 

People learned about the persecution and signed the petition demanding that it end. 

The parade circled back to Hallplatz, where practitioners held a candlelight vigil that night to commemorate practitioners who were persecuted to death. 

Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Are What Makes Us Human

Mr. Bernd Dekant

Mr. Bernd Dekant, a retired bank employee, stopped and watched the Tian Guo Marching Band perform and listened as practitioners told people about the persecution. He enjoyed the atmosphere and said he was moved with what he heard about the persecution. “The parade was a brilliant idea and well done. This is how it should be done,” he said. 

“It’s very important to hold such public events. When people hear or read about it again in the news, they will know what is happening. 

“It’s such a pity that the CCP tried to prevent people from practicing Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa’s principles [Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance] are what make us human.” Mr. Dekant said that he had already signed the petition to support practitioners’ effort to end the persecution. “Human rights are universal values,” he commented. 

Wrong to Ban Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance

Ms. Maria Reimer brought her daughter to see the Falun Dafa parade.

Ms. Maria Reimer and her daughter saw the parade near the Street of Human Rights. She thought the parade was “excellent and brilliant.” When she first heard about the event, she decided to bring her daughter to see it. “People need to know what is happening, including understanding other cultures,” she said. 

“I think banning [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance] is wrong. The CCP should allow people to have their beliefs and live in the lifestyle they choose. Everyone has his own view and can decide how they want to live. No one should interfere,” she said. 

Ms. Reimer said that it was very important that practitioners expose the persecution: “This is how people learn about it.”

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology, and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years, though due to the difficulty in getting information out of China, the actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.