One Thousand Practitioners Take Part in Parade in Geneva

On Monday, 2003 the 17th of March, to coincide with the start of the 59th annual session of UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Falun Dafa practitioners from around the world held a parade across the city to appeal for the end of the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. The parade went from Place Neuve in the heart of the city centre to the Place Des Nations, a large square outside of the United Nations building. Over one thousands practitioners took part.

At the front of the parade, female practitioners dressed in white, the traditional colour of mourning in Chinese culture, carried wreaths with photographs of those Falun Gong practitioners who have been persecuted to death, to commemorate the tragic waste of their precious lives. One lady, Dai Zhizhen, carried a wooden box with white flowers on top containing the ashes of her husband who was persecuted to death for his belief in Falun Dafa. The scene was truly solemn and touching.

Following them came the rest of the parade, bright and colourful. The bright morning sun shone for the whole parade, lighting up the hundreds of banners as if they glowed from within. There was a large variety of banners, all shapes, sizes and messages, but they all shared two common themes - Falun Dafa is good, stop the persecution of Falun Dafa. Many banners were focused on the urgent resuce of family mambers around the world, such as Charles Li, Lin Wenrong and Xiong Wei.

Many local people stopped to quietly watch the parade, to ask about Falun Gong and the persecution and to accept leaflets from the practitioners. The solemnity and beauty of the parade left a deep impression on them.