On the 18th of December, in the Peace Garden outside Manchester Town Hall, Falun Gong practitioners from the Manchester area displayed pictures of the torture happening to their fellow practitioners in China and talked to passers by about the Chinese communist regime’s persecution against the practice.

After hearing about this event, Member of Parliament Patsy Calton and her assistant went to the town centre especially to express their support. Ms. Calton said to a TV reporter, “I have been particularly concerned about the treatment of Falun Gong in China for a number of years because I know a Falun Gong
practitioner, a very good friend of mine, and she lives very close to me. I think what we are saying here is, we are not opposed to China and the Chinese Government. We want to see the increase of the trade links and cultural links and ties with China, but at the same time, some attention needs to be paid to get proper human rights for everybody, which means that people should be able to take part in their peaceful
practices which are not a threat to the government and at any time they wish to.”

Patsy Calton MP	Signing a petition to call for an end to the persecution

Ms. Calton signed a petition calling for the Chinese Government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. In order to help to stop the human rights violations against Falun Gong in China, Patsy Calton MP tabled an Early Day Motion on the 14th of December to the UK Parliament. This proposal asks the parliament to call on China to immediately release all Falun Gong practitioners who have been detained for their peaceful beliefs, while calling for the parliament to urge China to grant an invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom after the last invitation was retracted. There are already forty six Members of Parliament who have signed Early Day Motion 389.