Austria: Rally in Vienna to Protest the Chinese Communist Regime’s 23-Year-Long Persecution of Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a rally on Stephansplatz in Vienna on July 20, 2022, to protest the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 23-year-long persecution. Many passersby signed a petition calling for an end to the persecution. Practitioners have held similar peaceful appeals every year on Stephansplatz since July 20, 1999.

During the rally, many Chinese went to the Falun Dafa information booth to listen to Dafa practitioners clarify the truth. After hearing what Falun Dafa is and the methods that the CCP has used in the persecution, 10 Chinese people renounced their memberships in the CCP and its affiliated organizations and expressed their gratitude.

Practitioners do the Falun Gong exercises.

Celebrity Widow Wishes to Help

The event drew the attention of passersby and many of them asked where they could learn the practice. People were pleased to accept origami lotus bookmarks with the words “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” printed on them.

Mrs. Adele Decker picked out several lotus bookmarks to give to nursing homes. “It’s really nice of you to clarify the truth and demonstrate the exercises here,” she said.

Mrs. Decker is the widow of Vienna’s famous football player Karl Decker. (Note: Mr. Decker was the captain of the Austrian national team from 1958 to 1964 and received many honors for his contribution to the Austrian Republic). Mrs. Decker said she appreciates Chinese culture.

Mrs. Adele Decker is interviewed by a practitioner.

After learning that the CCP forcibly harvested organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, Mrs. Decker said, “Incarceration of innocent people? Organ harvesting from living people? No, that’s not acceptable!”

She said she hoped that Falun Gong practitioners could have the support of the Austrian government to fight human rights persecution. “Austrians have ears, so let’s hear what happened,” she said.

Public Appalled by the CCP’s Organ Harvesting

Vanessa Granic from Croatia had seen a parade held by European Falun Gong practitioners in Zagreb a few weeks ago and heard the Tian Guo Marching Band play. “I loved the parade, and the performance of the dragon dance made me feel very peaceful,” she said.

That’s where she heard for the first time about the persecution taking place in China: “I find it hard to express [in words] how horrific it is. I’m trying to understand this terrible persecution. People like to look away and it happens so easily. But it’s still important to understand the situation.”

Re-enactment of the CCP’s live organ harvesting

After seeing a re-enactment of the CCP’s forced organ harvesting in China, a woman signed the petition to call for an end to it. She said that she had read about the state-sponsored organ harvesting for profit in reports about organ transplantation. She was willing to help Falun Gong practitioners. She asked about the next steps and for more information. She said she would let more people know about the human rights atrocities.

Tourists sign a petition calling for an end to the CCP’s organ harvesting.

A German teacher from Bulgaria but who lives in Vienna said, “I was shocked. Someone was imprisoned and then disappeared. His organs were harvested. I want to encourage you to let more people know about the atrocities.”

She signed the petition and said that she would post the link on the Falun Dafa flyer on her social media account.

Passersby pause to look at the display boards.

Another woman said, “I think what’s happening in China is very cruel. It’s unbelievable that these people were subjected to organ harvesting without anesthesia just because they have different opinions. We can’t imagine that in the West. It has to be stopped.”

Young tourists from the United States approached the booth to learn more. Nate Hodges and Owen Schultz, two students from California, said they were sad to see what is happening in China. As Americans, they expressed absolutely no interest in communism.

Young Americans learn about the persecution.

Two young women from Tibet who are currently living in Austria came over to the booth after seeing a banner about China. They had heard of live organ harvesting from Tibetans, but they were not aware of Falun Dafa. After hearing that the persecution of Falun Dafa is also suppressing the Chinese people and their precious culture, like what happened in Tibet, one of the women said, “My grandparents were suppressed by the CCP, and we know that in China there is no freedom.”

A family from Pakistan learns about Falun Gong.

Zeeshan Tahir is from Pakistan and works as a computer engineer for an international company. He and his wife learned about the situation of Falun Dafa practitioners in China through the activities that day. “It is very clear that the persecution [of Falun Gong] should not occur at all,” he said. He said all violations of basic human rights should be stopped.

“I call on the governments to do something to stop the persecution,” he said. “Some people don’t even know 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. 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.