Germany: Informing People about the Persecution of Falun Gong at the Annual Meeting of the Baltic Development Forum at Hamburg University

For the first time since the citizens and senate of Hamburg joined the Baltic Development Forum in 2003, the city hosted its annual meeting from Sunday September the 2nd to Tuesday September the 4th 2004. The focal topic of the two-day summit was the economic problems of the Baltic region. About 250 people participated, belonging to economic groups from around the world, as well as the Foreign Ministers of the Baltic states, the Prime Ministers of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Denmark, and other leaders from the fields of science, economics and culture. The summit met in the main building of Hamburg University.

Falun Gong practitioners from Hamburg, Hannover and Braunschweig went to the University Campus to distribute information about the persecution of Falun Gong to the participants of the summit. They also sent righteous thoughts and demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. Soon after the practitioners had arrived, the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein passed the practitioners in her car. When she saw the Falun Gong T-shirt of a practitioner, she nodded to them.

The practitioners stayed at the main entrance of the university until the end of the summit. They talked to students, lecturers, university staff and people from economic circles about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Everybody was very receptive and many people were glad to get more information.

Several people who had initially declined Falun Gong leaflets, stopped abruptly, as if they had suddenly realised something, turned around smiling and accepted the flyer. One speedy bike rider had to make a quick turn because he wanted to get a leaflet. Sometimes, the demand for leaflet was so great that the practitioners were unable to keep up with it. Many people wanted to chat with practitioners to find out more.

Economists who had arrived from around the world, including China, came and gratefully took information. When they found out what the information was about, there were positive reactions such as, “Oh sure! That’s important!” or “I will definitely read it.” Some of them took the time for a conversation and asked about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. They wanted to know why practitioners are so committed to this cause and refuse to give up their beliefs under even the most brutal and evil pressure.