Norway: Dafa Practitioners' Appeal During Chinese Dignitary's Visit Receives Enthusiastic Support

On June the 3rd, the Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Bangguo paid a visit to the Norwegian Parliament. This was a tragic day in Chinese history, because it was the fifteenth anniversary of the student massacre in Tiananmen Square, which took place on the night of June the 3rd 1989. Over two hundred students and other civilians were killed in the massacre. When questions concerning this topic came up, Mr Wu stated that the massacre was necessary. He was later asked about who was responsible for the massacre, but he refused to answer this question. He also did not want to answer whether the victims will get compensation.

Old and young, male and female, nobody is spared. Even an eight month old baby boy was tortured to death in front of his mother, simply because she was a Falun Gong practitioner that refused to give up her belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. After that the mother was also tortured to death.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (December the 16th of 1966) states in article 7 that:

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation."

Even though China ratified this convention, the arrested practitioners face torture, brainwashing classes and forced labour camps. Many are beaten to the point of being unrecognisable, young women are raped and many practitioners have been sent to mental hospitals and given many times the normal dose of unknown drugs. These are some examples of the brutal persecution taking place in China.

Because of these inhuman acts happening in China today, the Norwegian practitioners wanted to appeal to Mr Wu to help end this vicious persecution of innocent people. At the same time we also wanted to show him that even in a small arctic country like Norway people practise Falun Gong, and value the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.

To do that, we wrote a letter and asked our representatives in the parliament to hand it over to Mr Wu. We also showed banners, demonstrated the five set of harmonious and peaceful exercises and handed out flyers to people passing by. Many people wondered what was happening, and gladly received information about Falun Gong and the persecution. They read it carefully. One woman asked us specifically if we had a petition that she could sign. She thought the persecution was absolutely absurd. Even the owner of the shopping centre let us stand in front of his advertisement window, when we told him about the persecution.

During the appeal we had a good dialogue with the police, who took into consideration our right to appeal. We even got a very nice spot to show our banners. At one point the Chinese welcome committee tried to make our banners invisible to the Chinese delegation by the use of umbrellas on this sunny day and by holding a big red banner in front of us. However, the Norwegian police made sure that we where able to express our view. The Police Chief later told us that he got really angry with the Chinese, since they did not follow the Norwegian laws and his orders. He said he was glad he lived in a peaceful democratic country, where the basic rights of the citizens are protected.