Paris, France: Introducing Falun Dafa at Italian Square

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners carried out an exercise demonstration, truth clarification about Falun Dafa, and collecting signatures for their petition on the afternoons of August 28 and September 3, 2022 at the Place d'Italie in Paris.

The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements municipaux, administrative districts, more simply referred to as arrondissements. The Place d’Italie in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. This location is where Chinatown is located. Surrounding the Italian Square are large commercial centers and Asian shops.

The venue where the Falun Dafa practitioners held their event is right opposite the commercial center. During the weekends, many people would go to the commercial center to shop.

Many people were drawn by the Falun Dafa exercise demonstrations. Many of them liked Chinese culture and expressed their wish to learn and practice Falun Dafa. When people heard that Falun Dafa practitioners are being persecuted in China just because they follow the principles Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, they could not believe it. Many signed the petition to show their support for the Falun Dafa practitioners, expressing their hope that the persecution would end soon.

Falun Dafa practitioners demonstrate the exercises at the Italian Square in Paris.

Passersby look at the Falun Dafa exhibition boards and talk to Falun Dafa practitioners in front of the commercial center at the Italian Square

People sign the petition to support the Falun Dafa practitioners in their effort to call for an end to the persecution.

Artist Egheseussen Mansour said, “The persecution worries people. People do not stop their cultivation and continue to fight for their belief because there is nothing wrong with it. On the contrary, their belief is beneficial to the practitioner, to others and also to society. This is a very important point.”

Learning about Falun Dafa: People Express their Support for Practitioners

Farida is a nurse. When she got to know about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s persecution of the Falun Dafa practitioners, even to the extent of harvesting their organs from living practitioners, she got very alarmed.

“In a time like today,” she said, “which is the year 2022, this is a very scary and horrible thing. No one has the right to do something like that to others. It is abnormal to subdue a person, it is abnormal to force a person into slavery, it is abnormal to deprive a person of his freedom and it is abnormal to torture a person in such cruel manners. As long as it is against the wish of that person, it is abnormal. Harvesting a person’s organs to sell for economic profit, I am speechless. I am speechless about that. I am really heartbroken.”

She thinks that everyone must get involved, “At this moment in time, everyone must know, and show concern, for this matter!”

She continued to get more specific, “Being here and telling us about these atrocities – thanks to all of you, thanks for arranging this event. I just learned about this issue. We must unite, and must let people know about it, no matter through what channels, we must spread this information.”

She thanked the Falun Dafa practitioners, and expressed the hope that they could keep up their courage and persist.

Catherine has worked in the telecommunication industry for more than 40 years and she is passionate about Chinese culture. She said that she once had the opportunity to work in Hong Kong, and was informed about the persecution.

“There,” she said, “I attended a photograph exhibition where many photos were being exhibited. These photos all showed what was happening in China, the cruel tortures in the prisons, and so on. All these have never been seen in the European media and people do not bring up such topics. This is because of their business. When we are all into the business, we neglect everything. This is done intentionally.”

“China’s communist government persecutes the Chinese people through cruel torture, and continued with their autocratic dictatorship. This is a disgrace and we feel ashamed.” Catherine supports Falun Dafa. She asked what she can do since she is living in France. She thinks that cultivating in Falun Dafa is very important and she also wants to cultivate in Falun Dafa. Therefore, she asked for the address of the practice sites in Paris, and also information about the Falun Dafa website.

Anne is a high school teacher who teaches subjects such as business, economics and human rights. She said, “The persecution is really alarming. Detaining people of different political views, and different religious beliefs is not tolerable. Seeing that people do not have a choice but to leave their home country, because they are being restricted, we can only sigh and feel regret. Words are powerless.”