France: Practitioners Participate in Heritage Days in Paris

“Cultivating body and mind through compassion and forbearance could improve our health as well as mental state,” said poet Natacha on September 17, 2022, during the Heritage Days celebration in Paris.

Held on the third weekend in September in France, the annual tradition, which resumed this year, drew a large number of tourists in the Châtelet area of Paris. Falun Dafa practitioners introduced the practice to passerby by demonstrating the exercises and handing out information. Many people were impressed by the peaceful practice and were saddened to learn of the brutal persecution in China.

Practitioners demonstrate the exercises during Heritage Days held in Châtelet in Paris on September 17, 2022

Healthy Mind and Healthy Body
Natacha, who is a poet, met Falun Dafa practitioners twice on the same day. While walking by Sorbonne University in the morning, she saw practitioners doing the exercises and talked with them for a long time. When she saw them again at Châtelet, she said she was impressed that the gentle exercises could purify the body and bring people health. “Here even doing fitness at a gym costs you a lot of money. It is amazing that Falun Dafa is free and open to everyone,” she said.

It is hard to imagine that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would suppress this. Practicing the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance will bring health to our minds and bodies,” she said.

The Persecution is Absurd
Photographer Teresa Scotto di Vettimo said that the practitioners’ event was very peaceful. This is different from other rallies where people screamed and behaved violently.

Photographer Teresa Scotto di Vettimo (right) said she supports practitioners.

She said the suppression was absurd. Totalitarian regimes like the CCP are afraid people might have their own thoughts, even though Falun Dafa practitioners are becoming better citizens through their belief. “We stand with you and will support you with our hearts,” she added.

The Persecution Must Stop
Leila Oueslati, a naturopathy therapist, traveled around the world 25 years before settling in Paris. She was shocked upon hearing about the CCP suppression, detention, torture, and even organ harvesting. “This is horrible! How could this happen in today’s world?” she said, “Whether you harm one or 100,000 people in this way, it is the same. The persecution must stop!”

Ms. Oueslati thanked the practitioners for sharing the information on behalf of the victims. “Please keep it up and we will succeed one day,” she told practitioners.

Organ Harvesting Should Not Have Existed
Ismael Kriche, a businessman, said he felt sorry for the mistreatment that practitioners have received in China for their belief. He said the crimes are inhuman, but people may not realize their seriousness unless they learn about it personally. “That is why raising awareness and sharing the information with more people is very important,” he explained.

“Words cannot express how grieved I feel, because this atrocity should not have happened,” he said, “We need to join together and stop these tragedies.” He thanked practitioners and wished them well.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?
Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology, and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.