Cyprus: People in Larnaca Learn about Falun Dafa and the Persecution

Falun Dafa practitioners organised two activities in Larnaca on 11th and 13th October 2009 in order to introduce the practice to the native people and the city visitors. They displayed banners with information about Falun Dafa and the persecution, which the practitioners in China have experienced for more than a decade.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is an ancient Chinese cultivation way – a system for improving health and elevating one’s moral standards – which contains five sets of easy-to-learn exercises and teachings, based on the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

In 1999, the Chinese communist party (CCP) banned the practice, because they found that the number of the Falun Dafa practitioners in China was between 70 and 100 million people, while the communist party’s members were only about 60 million. Out of jealousy Jiang Zemin, the ex-leader of China, started a large-scale brutal persecution against Falun Dafa, in which more than 3300 practitioners lost their lives. This figure only includes verifiable deaths and it is believed that the actual number of the victims is even bigger, since in 2006 after investigation it was discovered that the CCP is harvesting organs from living practitioners and selling them on the black market for transplantations.

But in any other corner of the globe Falun Dafa is welcomed and freely spread. And the practitioners there are trying their best to raise awareness of and expose the evil persecution in order to stop it. Now there are practitioners in more than 100 countries over the world.

Larnaca is one of the few big cities on the island of Cyprus and it is visited by lots of tourists all year round. The activities of the Falun Gong practitioners took place on the famous Foinikoudes Promenade near the Marina, which is full of people almost every day who come to enjoy the sun and the sea, or just to take a walk.

In the morning of 11th October Falun Gong practitioners set up a few banners with information about the persecution and also a petition form in support of Falun Gong. They demonstrated the five sets of exercises, accompanied by the beautiful exercise music.

Demonstrating the sitting meditation exercise

During the demonstration many passers-by stopped and read the displayed information. Some of them even signed the petition by themselves and wished the practitioners good luck.

In the evening of October 13, the practitioners returned to the same place. Even before they set up the information materials, people came to ask what was going on. After learning the facts, one man said that those who kill people are animals. Another man wanted to know why the persecution is happening. One of the practitioners explained to him that the CCP persecutes Falun Gong, because it is afraid from such large group of people who believe in something other than the communist doctrines. After the explanation the man said that now he understands everything and really appreciates what the practitioners are doing.

The practitioners demonstrated the exercises, which attracted the attention of many passers-by. One police officer watched a part of the demonstration while he was doing his job and came to learn more about Falun Gong and the persecution. After receiving a brief explanation he signed the petition in support of Falun Gong and then suggested that the practitioners should go to peacefully protest in front of the Chinese embassy in the capital city Nicosia. The police officer was so interested that he stayed with the practitioners to the very end of the activity, talking with them about the persecution and the activities that practitioners use to expose the Chinese Communist Party's human rights abuses to the world’s people.