France: Introducing Falun Gong at the Primrose Expo in Lyon

On February the 25th, 26th and 27th, Falun Gong practitioners from France and Geneva attended the Primrose Expo in Lyon city. The practitioners introduced Falun Dafa to between fifty and sixty thousand people from Lyon and other neighbouring cities. They also informed them about the abuses of human rights that are happening to people who practise Falun Gong in China, with a large-scale campaign of suppression being enforced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

During these three days, the Falun Gong stand had a television that was constantly broadcasting programmes to expose the persecution and help people better understand the practice. There were also leaflets for people to pick up and practitioners were always on hand to answer any questions. On the first day of the Expo, local radio station “Colour FM” interviewed representatives from the Falun Gong stand.

After seeing pictures of large-scale Falun Gong exercise practices in China and pictures taken in the same country after before the persecution began in July 1999, people were puzzled: “Why is the Chinese Communist Party persecuting people who merely want to practise peaceful meditative exercises?” After talking with the practitioners, they understood that former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was jealous of Falun Gong’s immense popularity: after 7 years 100 million people were practising and the Communist Party had only 60 million members. Jiang was also scared that the improved morality practising Falun Gong brought to people clashed with his own tactics of deceit and double-dealing that had helped him get into power. He used China’s state-controlled media to start a large-scale defamation campaign and turn the nation against this peaceful practice; he employed the persecutory mechanisms of the Chinese Communist Party, which is responsible for the deaths of over 80 million people in its 50-year rule of China, to carry out his orders to “eliminate Falun Gong”.

The practitioners in Lyon asked people to join them in calling for an end to the persecution by collecting petition signatures during the Expo. Many tourists came straight to the Falun Gong stand to sign their names and give encouraging comments such as, “I have heard about this before. I support you. You have to continue with what you are doing.”