Diepholzer District Newspaper (Germany): From internal balance to an open protest

The following article was published in German newspaper Diepholzer District on July 18th 2005:

Actually, they only wanted to meditate in order to improve their internal balance and their health. Yet in the meantime, the Chinese meditation movement Falun Gong has so many supporters that the government in Beijing is getting nervous.

This resulted in the persecution, torture and even murder of the members. On Saturday evening, German Falun Gong supporters demonstrated against these actions in the Diepholzer downtown area and used truly graphic means.

A torture victim with a black eye and his tormentor remained almost motionless at their place in front of the Oldenburg County Bank. Next to them some members of the group meditated. With fliers, information sheets and postcards they wanted to draw the pedestrians’ attention toward this delicate issue.

“We do not have a political goal and we don’t want to overthrow the government either. But Beijing does not tolerate the group because of the millions of supporters”, said Barbara Giesenkirchen from “Falun Gong”.
Together with other members, she goes from one town to the next with the goal to inform as many people as possible about this problem. She herself is from Hannover, but in other surrounding bigger cities there are also Falun Gong groups.

“We actually are successful with our actions”, said Ms. Giesenkirchen. A young woman was released from prison due a signature and post card campaign.

Yet there are still too many victims, she said and shows a picture of a woman which looked terribly messed up, and who later died due to these injuries.

“If someone meditates in a public place in China, that is reason enough to be arrested by the police”, the Falun Gong members know. Falun Gong already has the support from another large organisation, Amnesty International, which urgently draws attention to the problem of the torture happening in China.