Sweden: Swedish Human Rights Organisations Protest against the Persecution of Falun Gong at the Chinese Embassy

On August 8th, 2008, 1 p.m., a rally was held, regardless of rain, by the Swedish Reporters without Borders, a Swedish Organization for supporting human rights in China (SRICH) along with other human rights organisations and members of Parliament. They were there to protest against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) arrest of reporters, blockading press freedom and violating the promise about freedom of speech it made to the International Olympic Committee and the international society. They also called on the communist regime to release jailed reporters, rights-defending advocates and Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners in Stockholm and other nearby cities also joined the protest.

Mr. Jespter Bengtsson, Chairman of Swedish Reporters Without Borders is interviewed by the mass media

Birgitta Ohlsson, Member of Parliament and spokesperson of the Liberal People's Party as well as the representatives of Tibet, Xinjiang, Uighurs East Turkestan, Mongolia and Falun Gong gave speeches one after another to condemn the CCP’s escalation of the persecution against press freedom and human rights under the excuse of hosting the Olympics.

Vasilious, the representative of Falun Gong strongly condemned the CCP’s nine year old persecution of Falun Gong. They also exposed the facts about the CCP’s stringent blockade of information to deceive its people. In the meantime, he called on people with a conscience to stop CCP’s atrocities together. Falun Gong practitioners held banners reading “Stop interrupting NTDTV” to appeal to Eutelsat, calling for the immediate recovery of NTDTV’s signal to China and the entire Asia, so that the Chinese people can watch uncensored news.

Jespter Bengtsson, the chairman of Swedish Reporters without Borders said in an interview, “We are here to call on the 27 countries in Europe to boycott the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony. This is the objective of this activity. Our broader goal is to condemn China’s lack of press freedom.” He also condemned Eutelsat’s disconnection of NTDTV’s broadcast to Asia due to the Chinese regime threat. He said, “I think this is a scandal. It is the biggest scandal in Europe during the Olympics. It is worse than the fact that some leaders of the European countries are attending the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Elizabeth, the representative of Reporters without Borders said, “We hope China can improve its freedom of the press. We hope reporters in China can be as free as those in Sweden. There should not be information blockade or intimidations and jail terms resulting from their jobs. The opening ceremony of the Olympics is held today and we hope our fellow reporters in China can share our consensus. An open and free discussion is beneficial for improving interpersonal relationships and working environment. People should be allowed to express their views freely. This is the basic democracy. Efforts toward this goal are worthwhile.”

In his remarks, Birgitta Ohlsson said, “The Beijing Olympics is employed by the communist regime as a crime cover up and a tool to instigate its nationalism.” Besides sports, we should also talk about the serious human rights infringement issues. When we talk about freedom of speech and freedom of press, we should know clearly that the individual freedom of the Chinese people has not improved at all. We should keep fighting for Chinese human rights.”

The protest was held simultaneously with the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony. Non-government organisations such as the Swedish Amnesty International also participated in the rally. Over ten Swedish mainstream TV stations, radio stations, daily news and AFPs also came to report the event.