The Netherlands: Signature Drive in Tilburg

(Minghui.org) Practitioners held an event in Tilburg, Noord Brabant Province, on May 24, 2025, to tell locals and tourists about Falun Dafa and how it is persecuted in China. They set up display boards on Heuvelstraat, a busy commercial street, that read: “Journey of Falun Dafa in the World” and “The Persecution of Falun Gong in China.”

Even though it rained in the afternoon, they continued to demonstrate the Falun Dafa exercises, distribute truth-clarifying leaflets, and collect signatures on a petition to end the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) live organ harvesting from practitioners. Many people said they admired practitioners for their perseverance despite the weather and thanked them for telling them about Falun Dafa.

Tilburg is the sixth largest city in the Netherlands and a transportation hub and commercial center in the southern part of the country. Tilburg University is renowned worldwide for its economics and law degrees and ranks among the top ten universities in Europe.

Practitioners held an event on Heuvelstraat, Tilburg’s commercial street, on May 24.

Practitioners talked with passersby and told them about Falun Dafa and the persecution.

Law Student Hopes the Persecution Ends Soon

Sebastiam is studying law at Tilburg University. After he read a leaflet a practitioner gave him, he returned to the booth to sign a petition to end the forced organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

“I thought I was very familiar with international events because I surf the Internet every day, but I’d never heard about this [the CCP’s organ harvesting]. I was shocked.” Sebastiam said, “It is so unfortunate that such a thing is being done to human beings. I will post the news on my social media to let my friends know about it and pay attention to it. I hope that this evil ends one day!”

“We Have All Been Deceived [by Communism]!”

An 80-year-old man stood in front of the display board for a long time, then took out his reading glasses to look at it carefully. He asked a practitioner, “Why doesn’t the Chinese Communist Party allow people to practice Falun Dafa?”

The practitioner explained that Falun Dafa teaches Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, while the communist party promotes “lies, evil, and fighting.” He agreed and said, “That’s right. The communist party is especially at odds with Compassion and Forbearance.”

He told the practitioner that, when he was young, he liked Mao Zedong because Mao said he wanted to benefit the world’s people. “Half of the people in the Netherlands were confused by what Mao said. But now that I have seen the real situation in China and Russia, the two largest communist countries, I no longer believe their words. We have all been deceived!”

An 80-year-old man said people were deceived by communism.

“Thank You for Standing in the Rain!”

Ruurdtij Spijherman, who lives in Breda, was visiting friends in Tilburg. She works for a multinational company and is responsible for providing health certificates for people traveling abroad.

She signed the petition and recorded the information on the display board on her phone. “Thank you for standing in the rain,” she said. “Thank you for telling me this!”

Ruurdtij Spijherman recorded the information on the display board on her phone.

A couple who signed their names on the petition said that they had learned about the persecution of Falun Dafa on Facebook. They were very moved to see practitioners continue to hold their event even in the rain, so they wanted to sign in support.

People sign the petition to end the persecution of Falun Dafa.

As the practitioners were wrapping up their activity, an elderly woman came over to chat with them. She was deeply moved by the fact that they could still practice peacefully in the rain.

About a hundred people signed the petition to stop the persecution of Falun Dafa and forced organ harvesting.