Belgium: Falun Gong Practitioners Call for Action to End Persecution at China-EU Summit

On September 20, 2012, practitioners in Europe held activities at the Place Poelaert in Brussels calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. During the same day, leaders from Europe attended the annual China-EU summit at a nearby venue. A Chinese delegation led by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao also attended this one-day conference. The practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises, displayed posters and banners with eye-catching messages, and discussed the issues with passersby.

Practitioner Hao Yiyang from France attended the rally to call for help to rescue her mother. She said, “My mother, Zhong Shulan, was arrested several times because of her belief in Falun Gong. After suffering years of persecution, my father died last year, and now my mother has recently been arrested again. On June 12, she was arrested while clarifying the truth of Falun Gong on the street. She has been detained for over 100 days now and I have not heard anything from her since mid-August.”

There have been many stories published about how Falun Gong practitioners are being killed for their organs, and Ms. Hao is very concerned about her mother. “I am here to call for help from the European Union, and I hope the EU can rescue my mother from China so that we can reunite here, because she can only freely practice her belief outside of China.”

Practitioner Ms. Pan commented, “Falun Gong practitioners are people who strive to follow the universal principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” Since the Chinese regime started to persecute practitioners in China, we have held a variety of events to let people know who we are and to counter the lies and propaganda spread by the Communist regime. News of the regime’s atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners has been mostly covered up by Beijing. So we overseas practitioners have to work tirelessly to expose such atrocities in order to help practitioners in China and end this genocide as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the China-EU summit, we are here today to call attention to and request help with ending the persecution. This is not only a Falun Gong issue, and it also pertain to the direction of society."

The plaza is directly in front of the Belgium Department of Justice, and many of the passersby are attorneys. When these people hear about the persecution or see the display, many of them are shocked and express their support.

One passersby commented, “The persecution is very serious, and I think many people in Europe still don't know about it. However, I think that everyone should know.”

Another passerby said, “These Falun Gong practitioners want to tell us what is happening in China. We can help them to spread the news to the whole world so that the persecution will be ended.”