On Saturday January 15th 2005, Falun Gong practitioners from twenty countries held a large-scale parade through central London. In addition to displaying the widespread recognition of Falun Gong around the world and the benefits that Falun Gong has brought to society, the parade also intended to illustrate the on-going persecution that the regime in China has been waging against Falun Gong for the past five years. Latvian Falun Gong practitioners also attended the parade, hoping to raise the awareness of the international society to Jiang’s persecution against Falun Gong.
The Baltic News Service carried news coverage about this event on January 17th. The report said more than eight hundred Falun Gong practitioners from twenty-plus countries attended the parade.
The purpose of the parade was to urge international society to pay attention to the crimes that Jiang’s regime has committed against Falun Gong practitioners, and to emphasise the necessity of bringing the leading perpetrator Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese President, to justice. Nine Falun Gong practitioners from Latvia participated in the parade.
The participants held posters, which read “Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners being Persecuted in China”, “Stop persecuting Falun Gong” and “Bring Jiang to justice”. They came from various countries, including the USA, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Israel, UK, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Germany and Sweden.
Maria, a Falun Gong practitioner from Boston, USA, told a reporter that participating in this parade has a special meaning for her because her original nationality is Polish. At the age of three, Maria’s mother was sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis when Germany occupied Poland during World War II. Maria commented, “It means a lot to me to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Immediately after the parade, Falun Gong practitioners lined up to form a “Great Wall of Courage”. They demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises and the various forms of torture that China is applying to Falun Gong practitioners. They also displayed a “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance” banner and several other banners to appeal for an immediate end to the persecution.
On Saturday evening, many practitioners, including the ones from Latvia, attended a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in London. The London Chinese Embassy appeal by local Falun Gong practitioners has now been ongoing for over 2 years, 24 hours a day, and has received widespread media coverage. Practitioners demanded the Chinese Government to stop persecuting Falun Gong and punish the perpetrators severely. On the following day, an international experience-sharing conference was held in London.
Falun Gong originated from China. With “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance” as the principles for cultivation, Falun Gong is a cultivation way based on the Buddha School. There used to be one hundred million Falun Gong practitioners in China. Jiang’s regime banned Falun Gong in 1999 and subsequently carried out a ruthless persecution against the practice, regardless of the condemnation from the international communities. Nowadays, there are still several thousand practitioners illegally imprisoned in China. So far, more than 1,300 people have been persecuted to death, more than one hundred thousand people have been illegally sentenced to labour “re- education” and about one thousand people were forcibly sent to psychiatric hospitals.
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