Sweden: Falun Gong Appreciated by Many Gothenburg Residents

On May 15th, 2004, the regular Falun Gong practice session in Slottsskogen, Gothenburg, coincided with the yearly Gothenburg Half-Marathon. The long-distance race started and ended in the same park. Some thirty-six thousand runners participated and just as many people came out to watch and cheer them. After the usual practice, Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the exercises again for the unusually large amount of spectators.

For more than six years Falun Gong practitioners have been practising almost every Saturday afternoon in the same place. During the two hours of practice about two thousand people pass by. On a sunny day many picnickers sit in the surrounding park and have the opportunity to watch the serene exercise performance. Practitioners at the practice site are often visited by people who wish to learn the exercises, students who are writing essays about Falun Gong, and those who want to known more about the persecution in China. An anonymous person has sent “The Day's Rose” in honour of Falun Gong to the local newspaper as a token of appreciation.