Germany: Falun Gong Practitioners Encounter Hu Jintao in Berlin and Appeal to Stop the Persecution

On November the 11th 2005, the second day of Hu Jintao’s visit to Berlin, more than one hundred Falun Gong practitioners from Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Holland continued their 24-hour petition signature collection activities persistently outside Hu’s accommodation, the Adlon Hotel.

A message that Falun Gong practitioners tried to deliver to Hu Jintao: “The time that God and people give you is limited.”

Hu Jintao and the accompanying Chinese government officials had several chances to listen to appeals made by Falun Gong practitioners. Mrs. Chen from Denmark described how she and other practitioners came across Hu’s motorcade twice. At noon when Mrs. Chen and several practitioners took lunch in a restaurant behind the Adlon Hotel, they encountered Hu’s motorcade when the motorcade was on its way back to the Hotel. The practitioners told Hu and his companions in chorus, “Falun Gong is good!” Hu Jintao and all of the Chinese government officials turned their head to gaze at them.

Falun Gong practitioners made an appeal outside the Adlon Hotel around the clock.

The same evening when practitioners were looking for somewhere to eat, a lot of German policemen showed up suddenly. Mrs. Chen and many other practitioners were guided to a place by a policeman and not allowed to leave. After a while, the motorcade of the Chinese delegation passed by. Falun Gong practitioners called out, “Falun Gong is good!” and “Hu Jintao, the time that God and people give you is limited.” After the motorcade passed, pedestrians were allowed to cross the street. The policeman looked at the peaceful Falun Gong practitioners with a smile on his face and he did not leave. After a little while, Hu’s limousine passed by. Practitioners made another vocal appeal. Another policeman asked practitioners what Falun Gong was. After practitioners told him about Falun Gong and explained the persecution that the Chinese communist regime has inflicted against Falun Gong in China, the policeman was extremely shocked.

Falun Gong practitioners made an appeal outside the Adlon Hotel around the clock.

Outside the city hall of Berlin, Hu Jintao shook hands with Chinese students who came to welcome him. A Falun Gong practitioner also stepped forward to shake his hand and requested him to stop the persecution. The western practitioner, who said “Falun Gong is good” in the face of Jiang Zemin at the Adlon Hotel three and half a years ago, also had a chance to make a face-to-face request to Hu Jintao in the hallway of the Hotel to stop the persecution. Hu stayed quiet and didn’t say a word.

One event may reflect how the degree of sensitivity of the Chinese officials about Falun Gong issue has puzzled westerners. Before Mrs. Chen came across Hu’s motorcade in the evening, she passed by the rear entrance of the Adlon Hotel with four female and one male practitioners. They saw about a dozen Chinese officials coming out of a restaurant right next to the Hotel. The Falun Gong practitioners welcomed the Chinese officials and told them “Falun Gong is good!” The Chinese officials were stupefied and stood still for several seconds. Then, the leading official who was just about to enter the car turned about and went back into the restaurant. All of the remaining Chinese officials followed him immediately. The hotel steward who was holding the car door for the Chinese officials was stunned. He could not understand at all why a short sentence from these young ladies would have such gigantic power. A policeman came over and asked what had happened. Practitioners replied, “We welcomed them to Germany and told them that Falun Gong is good.”