United Kingdom: Practitioners Hold Anti-Torture Exhibitions in Edinburgh

On the 24th and 25th of July, British Falun Gong practitioners again held a two-day live exhibition of simulated torture scenes in Edinburgh following the same exhibition held on the 18th and 20th of July at the Houses of Parliament in London. The anti-torture exhibition was to expose the methods employed by the Jiang regime as they persecute Falun Gong practitioners in China. Edinburgh people were shocked by the exhibition and the fact that what they saw is really happening in China. They signed their names on a the petition to call for an end to the persecution.

On the 24th, the weather was excessively abnormal; there were gales first and then heavy showers. Falun Gong practitioners unfolded a prelude to the anti-torture exhibition during a chilly rainstorm. The gale blew the leaflets and petition forms off the stand from time to time, and the exhibition display boards were blowing around as well. Practitioners encouraged and cooperated with each other harmoniously with righteous thoughts.

There were several instruments of torture such as the “Tiger Bench”, the “Big Hanging”, the “Iron Cage” etc. and Falun Gong practitioners wearing bloody clothes with simulated scars, bruises and bloodstains on their bodies. Several practitioners were demonstrating Falun Gong exercises. There were also two practitioners sitting between the petition desk and display boards sending righteous thoughts. There were two big eye-catching banners worded, “Stop the five-year persecution of Falun Gong immediately” and “These events are happening in China…”. A practitioner acted as a narrator of the exhibition and continuously told the passers-by about the injustice and illegal treatment received by Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China, and called for kind-hearted people to support “Truth, Compassion and Tolerance” and stand by us to stop the persecution together.

At the weekend, there were lots of people on the streets of Edinburgh, but they were all in a hurry because of the bad weather. However, many of them stopped to watch the exhibition and Falun Gong exercise demonstrations. After listening to practitioner’s tell them about the five-year campaign of genocide against Falun Gong in China, kind-hearted Scots were shocked! They could not believe that this brutal persecution is still happening in the 21st century.

Lots of people quickly crowded in front of the petition desk; there were students, clerks, social workers, housewives and tourists signing their names on the petition forms. There was a family with three generations signing the petition form after finishing watching the exhibition, the youngest grandchild cried in his grandmother’s arms, and another one leaned upon his mother and could not stop his tears. A group of secondary students from Spain signed the petition forms one by one after reading the contents of the display boards.

On the 25th, the brilliant sunshine swept away the dark clouds in the sky. The anti-torture exhibition held in St. James Street located in the city centre drew big crowds. A western man signed the petition after watching the exhibition and said that he would like to learn the exercises. When he was learning the first exercise, he could feel the energy flowing around his body which excited him. After he finished learning the five sets of exercises, he was happy to demonstrate Falun Gong exercises with others. He told the practitioner who taught him the exercises that he always went into the same dream for three months that he dreamt that he was learning a kind of exercise with many people in public. Today, what had happened made him believe that his dream had become a reality.

Three young guys from China were also shocked by the exhibition. They read the display boards carefully and took photos, and would not leave for a long time. When a practitioner went to them for their signatures, they signed the petition without hesitation to support justice.