(Minghui.org) Xi Jinping, head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), arrived in Gran Canaria, Spain, on November 13 and stayed the night at a hotel before he flew to Peru the next day to attend the 2024 APEC. Local Falun Dafa practitioners protested in front of and near the highway to his hotel, urging him to end the 25-year-long persecution of Falun Dafa in China.

Falun Dafa practitioner held banners in front of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s hotel in protest, urging him to end the persecution in China.

Falun Dafa practitioners protested on the side of the highway that Xi’s motorcade traveled to his hotel.

Practitioners displayed banners that said: “Falun Dafa Is Good” and “Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong” in both Chinese and Spanish and waited on the side of the highway for Xi’s motorcade to pass before it reached the hotel on November 13.

Another group of practitioners waited on the sidewalk across the street from Xi’s hotel. When a police officer told practitioners that they could not stand there, practitioners told him about the brutal persecution and how practitioners in China were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. A practitioner told the officer that the CCP systemically harvested the organs from living practitioners who were incarcerated for refusing to renounce their belief.

After learning the facts of the ongoing persecution in China, the officers allowed practitioners to peacefully protest outside the hotel. The practitioners held banners and handed out Falun Dafa informational flyers to passersby.

A Chinese security guard (in white) left after the police denied his request to make practitioners move away from the front of the hotel.

One of Xi’s security guards asked police officers to make the practitioners leave the area near the hotel. The police checked his identification and told him that practitioners, “did not violate any law, and can stay. Spain is a free country.”

The Chinese man continued to pressure them and asked the police to allow him to park a bus in front of practitioners in order to block them and their banners.

The officers told the man, “You can’t do that. [Falun Dafa] practitioners are exercising their right to freedom of speech in a peaceful and respectful way.” The police also warned him, “If you block the Falun Dafa practitioners with a bus, there will be legal consequences.” The man left and did not come back.

While police talked to the man, passersby and drivers in cars stopped to ask what happened. Practitioners handed them informational flyers and told them about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. Some drivers honked their horns and gave a thumbs-up to show their support for practitioners’ efforts.

A passerby told a practitioner that he respected them for their persistent efforts to end the persecution over the years. “You are so brave. Good luck to you,” he said.

The police stayed with the practitioners. When the practitioners were getting ready to leave, an officer asked where they parked, and escorted them to their cars. He explained that he was worried about their safety, as the police felt the Chinese man was highly aggressive.

A young officer was interested in Falun Dafa when he saw practitioners do the exercises. He asked where he could learn them, and said “I’ll go to the park and learn them,” after a practitioner answered his question.