On May 10th and 11th, Turkish Falun Gong practitioners from different cities gathered to celebrate the ninth "World Falun Gong Day", which is also the 16th anniversary of Falun Gong's introduction to the world. Some practitioners sat together to fold paper lotus flowers, which attracted many visitors to stop and watch.

Falun Gong practitioners in Athens celebrated World Falun Gong Day on Sunday May 11th to commemorate Falun Gong's introduction to the world. Practitioners demonstrated the exercises near the archaeological site of the Acropolis. As many passersby were taking their Sunday stroll and visiting the archaeological museum and sites and the spring book fair, many stopped to admire and inquire what Falun Gong is.

Mr. Fan Dezhen, 33, was a Falun Gong practitioner. In 2001 he went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and was detained in the Huludao Labour Camp for three years. In order to force him give up his faith, several guards shocked him simultaneously with electric batons, and beat him cruelly. He arrested again in 2005 and taken to the Huludao City Labour Camp again, where he was tortured many times. In 2008 he was arrested once more and died on April 20th, 2008 in the Suizhong County Detention Centre.

At the end of 2000, when about a hundred practitioners from Huludao went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing to peacefully protest the persecution to Falun Gong, they were detained or sent to labour camps. In January 2001, I got to know Fan Dezhen in the Huludao Detention Centre. He and his father had been apprehended together. Fan Dezhen firmly resisted their attempts to "transform" him, so he was sent to a more strict supervisory team. Although we did not see Fan Dezhen any more, we could often hear shouts of "Falun Gong is good" from upstairs. We knew he was still firmly safeguarding his faith. Later, because he printed Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and distributed them publicly, he was sentenced to forced labour several times.

Wang Caixia was detained and tortured many times for persisting in practising Falun Gong. In 2001 Ms. Wang began a hunger strike to protest against the persecution in a detention centre, but was beaten up by convicts under the instigation of a police team leader. She was pressed down on the floor by several convicts, her jaws pried open and the convicts began to use chopsticks and metal spoons to force apart her teeth. After being brutally beaten, she was force-fed brutally until she almost passed out. Then, the prison doctor forced thick saline solution into her stomach, which almost killed her. After nearly four months of detention and torture, Ms. Wang developed severe scabies in the damp and dirty environment of the detention centre. In August 2001, Ms. Wang's husband could not handle the great pressure and demanded a divorce. In 2007 Ms. Wang was hung up for days on high metal bars in a detention centre. Since her release in 2007 from her latest persecution Ms. Wang was forced to abandon her home to avoid arrest.

In summer 2002, Ms. Wang was handing out distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong when she was reported by people who were not aware of the truth. She was arrested and detained in the police station, where she was forced to hand in leaflets and tell where she got them. She was released that same day. The local police station handed over the Falun Gong leaflets from Ms. Wang to the police bureau. Three days after Ms. Wang's arrest, police officers arrested her again and took her to the police station, where they forced her to "confess" by torturing her. They handcuffed her to a heating device, deprived her of sleep, didn't allow her to eat or drink, and even tried to force her to curse Falun Gong. The torture lasted for a day and a night.

Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." After the bankruptcy of the international communist bloc, the CCP buried itself even more deeply under the banner of patriotism. When any Western country criticizes the CCP, it is called "anti-China." When the Chinese public resists the CCP, it calls them "anti-government." When overseas Chinese people criticize the CCP, it calls them unpatriotic.

Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." After the bankruptcy of the international communist bloc, the CCP buried itself even more deeply under the banner of patriotism. When any Western country criticizes the CCP, it is called "anti-China." When the Chinese public resists the CCP, it calls them "anti-government." When overseas Chinese people criticize the CCP, it calls them unpatriotic.

This is just like Teacher said, "When you always think that you've got health problems, you might just give yourself health problems..." Why did this happen? "That's because your character has dropped to the level of an ordinary person." In other words, I was just an ordinary person at that time. An ordinary person cannot save another ordinary person. In that state, I certainly could not save the Party secretary.

In the week following the 9th anniversary of "April 25 Grand Peaceful Appeal", Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong and other organisations held two marches to protest the Chinese Communist Party's persecution and to support the 35 million Chinese who have quit the Communist Party and its affiliated organisations.