Czech Republic: Touring Six Cities in Northern Moravia

From the 25th to the 30th of April, a group of practitioners from the Czech Republic toured six Moravian cities: Karvina, Havirov, Frydek-Mistek, Bohumin, Ostrava and Krnov. They introduced Falun Gong and told the public about the vicious on-going persecution against the practice in China.

Karvina

On the first day of the tour, practitioners visited the city of Karvina. Although it rained the whole day, they displayed banners and information about the persecution and started to perform the gentle Falun Gong exercises and patiently talk about the persecution to passersby.

One lady was very moved by the courage of Falun Gong practitioners in China. After she read all the material she came to sign our petition calling for an end to the persecution. When looking at the exercises she said she was interested in learning them as well, but nobody lived close to her who could teach her the movements. One practitioner offered to visit and help this lady learn the exercises. At first she couldn’t believe that someone would go to such lengths to help others and didn‘t want any money for it. So the practitioner explained to her that Falun Gong is not just about exercises; Falun Gong is a teaching that leads people to higher moral standards. After she heard this she said, “I wish there was more people like you.” She wished us good luck and left afterwards with a bunch of leaflets.

A reporter from the regional news came to interview the practitioners and took a few photos that were published the next day.

Havirov

On the second day, the practitioners moved to Havirov. Reporters from Czech national radio and a newspaper came to interview the practitioners. They also asked passerby what they thought about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and about the activities. People expressed their sympathy, and their support for what the practitioners were doing to raise awareness.

When practitioners were explaining the facts of the persecution, they met with people who lived in communist Czechoslovakia and were also persecuted. One older man, reading a display board explaining the torture methods used in cruel attempts to force practitioners in China to renounce their beliefs, said, “When communism was here, I was also tortured this way. They hung me up with my head facing the ground and kept burning me with cigarettes for a long time.” These people could relate with the suffering of the practitioners in China. They supported our efforts and immediately signed our petition calling for end to the Chinese Communist Party’s ruthless human rights violations.

Frydek-Mistek

When practitioners began the activities in Frydek Mistek, many people had already heard about the tour, what Falun Gong is and the persecution by the communist regime. They had read about it in the local news or heard it on the radio. This made people more willing to get detailed information and many stepped forward to sign the petition immediately.

In smaller cities such as Bohumin and Krnov there were not so many people on the streets so some practitioners took the opportunity to talk to people in more depth. Others continued demonstrating the exercises and displaying information about the suppression of Falun Gong.

During the whole tour, there was close to six hundred petition signatures collected and around 30.000 leaflets with information about Falun Gong and the persecution were handed out. Many people were moved by the kind-heartedness and courage of Falun Gong practitioners. They found it difficult to accept that such terrible atrocities are happening to a group of such good people. Czech practitioners would like to thank everyone for their support in bringing justice to practitioners in China.