Czech Newspaper Rovnost: Falun Gong Practitioners in Znojmo Inform the Public about the Violent Persecution

People who were passing through the centre of Znojmo today witnessed an uncommon scene. Three men in meditation positions were performing the Chinese practice of Falun Gong. This silent protest was to raise awareness about the brutal persecution of practitioners of this method in distant China. Their fellow practitioners were distributing material informing the public about and describing the shocking methods of torture that the Chinese police utilise against Falun Gong practitioners.

“We hold these activities to inform people about the persecution that has been taking place in China since 1999. It is also a way to help to end the persecution. Until 1999, the Chinese Government supported this practice. But when its popularity exceeded the popularity of the Communist Party, the authorities started the cruel persecution. At the beginning, there were merely single cases of persecution but later the persecution touched all practitioners and spread all over the country,” said one of the organisers of this event in Znojmo.

According to him, Falun Gong is practised in over sixty countries. This traditional Chinese practice improves body and mind and its practitioners live according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. This practice was made public in 1992 by Chinese man Li Hongzhi.

“The city of Znojmo is one of many cities in the Czech Republic that Falun Gong has visited. In Znojmo, as far as I know, nobody practises Falun Gong. We travel every week into one or two towns to inform people about the violence against practitioners in China. The Chinese Government is spreading lies about Falun Gong and the persecution around the world. We are trying to draw attention to this and let people know the truth. So now we also visited Znojmo. I would like to emphasise that our activities are not directed against China or the government itself, but against the group of people who started this persecution,” said one of the organisers.

The reactions of the citizens of Znojmo to their activities and giving out flyers is very friendly: I have to say that people in Znojmo are very kind and supportive. Similar activities to this, as this practitioner has said, have already brought good results. Several Falun Gong practitioners got out of Chinese prisons and labour camps due to the efforts from outside China. In some areas in China the persecution has weakened.

I have looked into the material that these people were distributing and I have to say, there are shocking things. “I really felt sick when I saw that,” said one of the passers-by. The material describes methods of torture that practitioners in China are exposed to. These are equal to what was commonplace in the Middle Ages. According to a U.N. report, among the many torture methods people could learn about were force-feeding, burning with hot irons, shocks with electric batons and various forms of depraved sexual torture.