France: Appealing for the Orphaned Children of Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners on World Children's Rights Day

On November 20th, 2005, World Children's Rights Day, French children were dressed up in their Sunday best to go sightseeing with their parents. As one of the most famous tourist attractions, Paris attracted a lot of children from various places that day. The entire city was full of children’s pleasant laughter and all the people seemed to be engrossed in the cheerful atmosphere.

However, it is not true that children in every part of the world are so lucky. In China which is on the opposite side of the world, due to the Chinese Communist regime’s illegal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners, nobody knows how many innocent children have lost their parents or become destitute and homeless. Some of them even have lost their young lives in this inhuman persecution. A campaign dubbed “Rescue the Children” was staged in Paris' Human Rights Square.

People looking at information posters	Anti-torture exhibition	Demonstration of the peaceful Falun Gong exercises

Orphans of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners	Chinese tourist videotaping the posters	Folding paper lotus flowers

Many Falun Gong practitioners came all the way from other districts of France to Paris to participate in the activities. In addition to introducing Falun Gong exercises to the audience in English and French, the host also explained the facts about the persecution to them. In the Square, an anti-torture exhibition enacted by practitioners also attracted the attention of many tourists. In the meantime, practitioners in yellow clothes demonstrated Falun Gong exercises in unison. The booth beside the information display boards was surrounded by a group of children leaning how to fold paper lotus flowers. Oil paintings depicting China’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners were also on display. The white cloths were placed on the ground to collect signatures and were changed many times after they ran out of space for people to sign their names. All these activities were conducted at the same time, and their common theme was: Stop the persecution against Falun Gong and rescue orphans of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Children who came to sign the petition expressed their views while signing their names: “This suppression is indeed terrible!” “Those perpetrators are really evil!” “Your activities are really great!”

Signing the petition

The parents who accompanied their children there were also deeply touched. A lady said sadly, “Seeing this, I was really distressed.” When knowing that under the CCP’s pressure, schools in China are unable to accept orphans of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, some mothers were so dumbfounded that they could not utter a word for a long time. Finally they said, “Really incredible!” “Really despicable!” A gentleman simply used “shameless” to condemn the Chinese Communist regime. While people were enthusiastically rendering their support for justice, some came up with ideas of how to put an end to the persecution.

Participants were interviewed by the media

Throughout the activities, journalists from the Sound of Hope Radio Network and the Epoch Times interviewed participants.