Finland: Candlelight Vigil for Murdered Falun Gong Practitioners During the World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki

On August 13th 2005, the World Track and Field Championships held in Helsinki were coming to an end. Although it was getting dark, traffic was still heavy on the streets. Having hung a banner reading “Falun Gong is good”, erected exhibition boards explaining the background to the persecution and portraits of practitioners who have been persecuted to death on both sides of the pavement, Falun Gong practitioners lit candles and sat silently in the glow of the candle light.

We sat near each other and gave expression to our grief for the deaths of so many practitioners and called for justice.

Since August 6th, when the contests began, practitioners from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Denmark and Germany have been holding a series of activities to introduce Falun Gong and expose the persecution near the railway station, the entrances to the underground, at the Chinese Embassy, in the park near the field of competition, on the streets, in the city centre park etc. We are here today calling on the world’s people: please pay attention to the cruel persecution of Falun Gong practitioners who believe in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, by Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party. At present, it has been verified by non-government sources and independently verified that 2,781 Falun Dafa practitioners have been persecuted to death.

Having enquired about our activities, a passing lady sat down with us and mourned for the practitioners who were persecuted to death. Two people, who were from Sweden, asked why we were here and if we were all Chinese. Upon learning that we came from several different countries, they praised us: “ What you have done is very good” and went on to say “It is not right for foreign governments to keep silent during the persecution because of economic interests.”

After watching all this and having received a leaflet, an American was deeply moved and said, “I want to know everything about the persecution.”