European Practitioners' Chinese New Year Celebration Activities in Paris: Part 4 - Hail and Rain Could Not Stop the Events

Following the Chinese New Year celebration parade on Saturday the 12th of February, European Falun Gong practitioners gathered at the Eiffel Tower on the 13th to display the beauty of Falun Gong to tourists from around the world and to let more people know about the brutal persecution against practitioners in China.

Soon after the activity started, a sudden storm of heavy rain and hailstones forced people to leave the square; soon only the practitioners were left. Hail-stones carried by strong winds hit the ground like golf balls, continuously striking practitioners who came to raise awareness about Falun Gong. Faced with this sudden storm, practitioners stayed firm in the square and sent forth righteous thoughts.

After about twenty minutes, the hailstorm started to ease up but it was immediately followed by heavy rain. Practitioners’ clothes and shoes were all soaking wet. Although they were wearing thin clothes, none of the practitioners considered leaving. They soon started to demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises and perform the waist drum formation and traditional Chinese dancing.

There were only a few spectators but they were all touched by the practitioners’ resolve. A young couple watched the performance for a long time. The lady asked the practitioner who was giving out leaflets if she could have her taken photo with the waist drummers. After getting permission, she happily stood among the practitioners and record this unforgettable moment. She and her boyfriend left the Eiffel Tower happily after they had a go at playing the waist drum.

Although practitioners did their best to protect the Falun Gong materials from the rain, some leaflets still got wet because practitioners were wearing thin clothing and were without rain-proof covers. When we gave out this material to people who came back to the square after the rain, they were all very happy to receive it with respect.

After the event, a practitioner went to a corner shop to buy something and heard two French people saying, “the Falun Gong practitioners are really strong!”