United Kingdom: Exposing the Persecution of Falun Gong at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

The 2014 Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to August 3. Five thousand athletes from 71 nations competed in 18 sports, making the games the largest sports event in Scotland.

Local Falun Gong practitioners took this opportunity to talk to the throngs of sports fans from around the world about Falun Gong and expose the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China.

The practitioners also collected signatures calling for an end to the persecution, especially the Chinese Communist Party's atrocity of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. On the first day of the games, several hundred of people signed the petition in just three hours.

Many Chinese visitors also stopped by the practitioners' display boards, which read in both Chinese and English. Some of the Chinese people took pictures and a number accepted practitioners' materials.

After several students from China read the information, they asked if practitioners were against China. A practitioner explained to them that the communist party is not China, because China is a country with a 5,000-year history and a rich culture, but the communist party is a foreign organization with a history of killing and wrong-doing. The students agreed, and quit the Communist Youth League with the practitioners' help.

Visitors from around the world read the practitioners' informational boards, and were happy to support Falun Gong's peaceful resistance by signing the petition.

A Canadian woman could not stop her tears as she read about the persecution. She signed her name and encouraged the practitioners to keep up their efforts. Despite the rain, she gave a soaking wet practitioner a big hug, and thanked him for bringing this information to the public.

There were often long lines in front of the souvenir booths. Practitioners talked to the people in line and most of them signed the petition. One woman said that she had read a Falun Gong flyer before in Edinburgh, and had learned about the organ harvesting crimes. She was glad to have a chance to express her support.

One couple had never heard about the forced organ harvesting. They could not believe the brutality. They asked practitioners for more detailed materials, and encouraged them to let more people know about the atrocities.

A few tourists questioned whether their signatures could really help. A practitioner answered, “Your signatures will tell the communist party that although they have the money and power, they cannot change the principles of being human nor can they change people's conscience. When the world is aware of their crimes, the party will not dare to continue.”