Germany: During Hu's Visit, Falun Gong Practitioners Hold a Series of Activities in Düsseldorf and Dortmund

During the time when Chinese President Hu visited Düsseldorf and Dortmund, Falun Gong practitioners from Europe and Germany held a series of activities to clarify the truth, and expose the Chinese Communist regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong to people from all walks of life. They also called upon people to extend their help to stop the persecution in China.

Parade and rally in Düsseldorf

At 2:00 p.m. on November 12, 2005, led by waist drummers, the Falun Gong practitioners' parade set off from the train interchange square in Düsseldorf. The procession was composed of a waist drum group, a celestial maidens dance group, practitioners wearing white clothing and holding photos of Falun Gong practitioners who have died as a result of the persecution, and over a hundred banners and photo display boards. As it was Saturday, many people were shopping and strolling in the busy streets. When they heard the vigorous waist drumming and saw the grand parade, they could not help slowing their hurried steps and watching attentively. During the two-and-a-half-hour parade, reporters and passersby kept taking pictures of different groups in the parade. Passersby who stopped and watched happily took truth-clarification materials from practitioners.

As local practitioners had made great efforts to clarify the truth to the police when applying for a permit for the parade, the police allowed the parade to pass by the local Chinese Trade Center and two Chinese shops. Due to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), practitioners were not permitted to enter the Chinese Trade Center to distribute truth clarification materials. However, when the practitioners' procession passed by, staffers working inside the Chinese Trade Center Building gathered at the windows to watch the parade and read the messages on the banners. The police officers on duty said to the practitioners, "If it were up to me, I would permit you all to enter the Chinese Trade Center to distribute materials and clarify the truth."

Along the route, Chinese students watched the parade. Some practitioners heard a young man say to his girlfriend beside him, "Their parade is grand!"

Western practitioner mourns Chinese fellow practitioners who have died from persecution

The destination of the parade was the square near City Hall along the Rhine River, where a rally was held. When the procession reached the square, democracy activists, human rights organization representatives, the president of the European Falun Dafa Association, and practitioners who have suffered persecution in China made speeches for one and a half hours. They depicted, from different perspectives, the persecution of Falun Gong under the CCP's rule and called upon the German people and government to call for an end to the persecution during Hu Jintao's visit to Germany.

Mr. Deuchert, representative of the human rights organization, "The Society for Threatened People," makes a speech

Prior to Hu's visit, when Falun Gong practitioners held an anti-torture exhibit in front of the Düsseldorf State Parliament Building, reporters from the nearby central media building saw it. They came over to the practitioners' information booth to learn the facts and then said that they would interview Falun Gong practitioners' appeal activities during Hu's visit. The popular German TV stations WDR and SAT1 took photos and videotaped the practitioners' parade and rally, and mentioned Falun Gong's peaceful appeal in that night's report on Hu's visit.

Vigil outside the hotel

Peaceful protest outside the Staendehaus in Düsseldorf

On the evening of November 12, when Hu Jintao had dinner with 200 German officials at the Staendehaus in Düsseldorf, Falun Gong practitioners also stood on the lawn outside the front entrance to the building to peacefully protest and call for an end to the persecution. Though the activity got a permit in advance, the police came over to forbid practitioners to shout out messages through a loudspeaker, and kept ordering the practitioners to retreat. The police said that they did so on orders from inside the building. When the dinner was about to end, the police cordoned off an area of several dozen meters outside the front entrance and forbade anybody to enter. Practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts, and some continued clarifying the truth to the police. Eventually, two practitioners unfolded two banners reading, "Falun Dafa is Great" about two meters away from Hu's motorcade.

Vigil outside the hotel

While shouting out messages, practitioners clearly saw some Chinese people walking out of the back door with a police escort. Regardless of whether they were from the business field or the Chinese consulate, they clearly heard the Falun Gong practitioners' call for ending the persecution. After that, the police told practitioners that someone who dined with Hu Jintao inside said that they could clearly hear the practitioners' appeal from inside the building. When practitioners left, the police said to them that they did not want to restrict the practitioners' peaceful demonstration, but the pressure from the Chinese side was huge, and they hoped the practitioners would understand. They said that they thought the practitioners had behaved well, and also hoped the persecution would be ended soon.

Clarifying the truth in Dortmund

Hu Jintao also visited Dortmund, an industrial town in Germany. After clarifying the truth to the police, practitioners were granted a permit to have a Falun Gong truth clarification stand and display a banner along the route that Hu's motorcade would pass. The motorcade passed by just several meters away from the practitioners' banner and passed the practitioners' stand and banners once again after visiting the industrial area. The banners carried such messages as, "Falun Dafa is Great," "Stop Persecuting Falun Gong," and "Hu Jintao, the Time that Heaven and the People Have Given You is Limited."