Germany: The People of Hannover Call for an End to the Persecution Against Falun Gong Practitioners

Falun Gong practitioners from Hannover, Goettingen and Hamburg organised an activity in Hanover on the 22nd of October to inform people about the persecution against Falun Gong in China. They distributed flyers in a very busy pedestrian area. Most of the passers by accepted the flyers. Some wanted to know more about how to practise Falun Gong. Others were more interested in current events in China and had a hard time believing that people who just want to practise peaceful exercises are treated so cruelly. The practitioners held an anti-torture exhibition in which several people simulated some of the methods of torture that are used in attempts to force Falun Gong practitioners in China to renounce their beliefs. Posters depicting the torture methods showed people even more clearly how inhuman the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) truly is.

The practitioners set up an information stall where people could come to find out more and pick up flyers in different languages. The most common query they encountered was why the Chinese Communist Party is so ruthlessly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners agreed that this is hard to comprehend because the persecution against Falun Gong is completely irrational. Falun Gong improves people’s health and the crux of the practice is the upgrading of moral character by following the guiding principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. After the practice became popular in China, people all over the country were striving to do a good job at work, think of others before themselves and always look at where to improve themselves when they ran into conflicts instead of blaming others. This brought great benefits to the Chinese nation and the Chinese people.

However, in 1999, CCP leader Jiang Zemin enforced the persecution against Falun Gong. One reason suggested for his actions is that he was jealous of the 100 million people practising Falun Gong, more than the 60 million Chinese Communist Party members. All over the country people were praising the benefits of Falun Gong and Jiang was deeply annoyed that the praise was not directed at him. Although he enforced the persecution, the majority of CCP officials were against it and many of them had family members who practised Falun Gong or even practised themselves. However, China is a dictatorship and it was from this moment in July 1999 that Jiang launched the most systematic, immoral and brutal persecution in human history.

At a smaller stand, there were petitions for people to sign. Many people expressed not only sorrow and consternation at the human rights abuses against Falun Gong but also asked how they can support and help practitioners in China. They were happy to add their names onto the petition that will be presented to the German Federal President, Horst Koehler, who will meet with Chinese leader Hu Jintao in early November 2005 in Berlin. The petition asks President Koehler to appeal to Hu Jintao to immediately stop the persecution against Falun Gong.

Naturally, the demonstration of the five sets of Falun Gong exercises also attracted a lot of attention. Passers by stopped and watched with fascination. Due to other events taking place near the Falun Gong stand, it was a little noisy sometimes. But the practitioners did not worry about this or lose their focus on remaining tranquil throughout the exercise practice.

Even though it rained every now and then during the afternoon, this day was successful and many people got the chance to learn about Falun Gong. A lot of them stayed to chat with practitioners and ask questions. The practitioners were happy to answer all of them and help these people find out more about the Falun Gong cultivation practice and the human rights abuses taking place in China.