Italy: Anti-Torture Exhibition in Florence during the Christmas Holidays

Florence is the place of origin of the Renaissance. Every year there are many tourists visiting there, including many sightseeing groups from mainland China. On December the 26th 2005 it was Saint Stephen’s day and was Italy’s national holiday. Italian Falun Gong practitioners held an anti-torture exhibition at Florence’s Piazza Republica to introduce to the general public the facts about Falun Gong and the brutal persecution in China.

Though in the depths of winter, it was not so cold and people were happy with the holiday atmosphere. Accompanied by their parents, children happily played at the makeshift amusement ground in the square, while street performers were playing violins and singing joyfully.

Falun Gong practitioners divided the activity into two parts. The first part was to demonstrate the magnificence of Faun Gong. In front of the banner reading “Falun Gong Teaches People ‘Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance’” practitioners demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, which attracted many people’s attention. The second part was to expose the Chinese Communist regime’s evil persecution by means of holding an anti-torture exhibition acted out by real people, along with displaying various photos and posters depicting the cruel persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Many tourists from various countries accepted leaflets. After hearing the facts about Falun Gong, they came to sign the petition one after another to show their support for Falun Dafa and the persecuted practitioners. People were outraged by the fact that such a peaceful cultivation practice is oppressed by the Chinese dictatorial regime. An Italian lady expressed that she was very sorry to see these photos of practitioners being tortured, and that it’s hard for her to imagine that such extremely cruel cases even take place today. After viewing the posters, a monk from the Church of St. Francis of Assisi also signed the petition. When signing the petition, many people expressed their appreciation and admiration of Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts to stop the persecution and encouraged them to persevere to the end.

Many Chinese people in the square also came to see the exhibition. Lots of them had already learned about Falun Gong and had read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, so they knew about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) evil nature. When practitioners were distributing truth-clarification material and the Nine Commentaries, some Chinese sightseeing groups accepted the material whilst others refused to take them due to fear. However, when others were not around, some of them did accept the material and hid them immediately. Still others who didn’t accept the material read the display boards seriously.

Although a Chinese tour guide did not allow their group members to listen to the truth, after practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts, they still listened to the facts about Falun Gong. While practitioners were explaining the facts to Chinese people, a westerner put his thumbs up and shook hands with practitioners to show his support.

Many tourists stopped at the poster boards to read about Falun Gong
After signing the petition, many people expressed their appreciation to Falun Gong practitioners and encourage them to persevere

During the five hours of activities, thousands of people found out more about Falun Gong and the CCP’s six years of persecution. Practitioners hoped that they will have a bright future.