France: Touching People's Hearts with an Anti-Torture Exhibition in Belleville

On the 2nd of October, French Falun Gong practitioners held an exhibition re-enacting the torture happening to Falun Gong practitioners in China at Belleville, an important Chinese district of Paris. They displayed three of over 100 methods of torture that Jiang Zemin and his regime use to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs.

The first one is known as the Small Cell. A small cell is a room with just enough space for one person. Since the height of the room is less than 1.5 metres, one cannot stand straight or lie down. It has dirty water on the floor and the walls have nails protruding everywhere. There is no light at all. Victims are thrown barefoot into the cell for months at a time.

The second method of torture that was re-enacted is the forcing of bamboo sticks under the fingernails. The practitioners also displayed the Tiger Bench torture. A victim is tied on a narrow wooden or iron bench by the thighs and knees, with hands tied behind the back, then the legs are bent in the wrong direction by adding bricks under the heels. The torture creates excruciating pain.

For the whole afternoon, Chinese and French people gathered around to watch the anti-torture and picture exhibitions and also listened to a megaphone commentary.

People took Falun Gong newspapers and other information. Some people were very touched. A lady said, with tears in her eyes, ”Oh, do you know that seeing those torture methods makes me feel very painful.” Another person said, ”How could they possibly abuse people who are doing such a great thing?”

A professional photographer was deeply moved by those Falun Gong practitioners. He took lots of photos of the torture exhibition and allowed practitioners to publish them for free.