In order to let more people know about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), over the past year Falun Gong practitioners in Europe have held anti-torture exhibitions of various sizes. They use this method to bring to life the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which is still being carried out in China, in order to help bring the persecution to an end as soon as possible.
Since 1999 when the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong - a cultivation practice of body and mind which is guided by the principles of "truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance" - 2808 Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed as persecuted to death, mostly in labour education camps, prisons and brain-washing centres all over China. They face inhumane torture, continuous brutal beating, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, forced feeding, and injections of drugs that affect the nervous system. According to a 2004 report by the United Nations on the violation of Falun Gong practitioners' human rights, the brutality and savagery of the torture was beyond words.
Gao Rong Rong was a practitioner from Shenyang. She was persecuted to death. While she was in a labour education camp in Longshan, Shenyang, she was beaten by police with high-voltage electric batons for six to seven hours. Her face was covered in blisters, her skin was turned black and she was deformed completely. Shih Zhimin, a seventy year old practitioner from Hebei Province was kidnapped at the end of 2004. Seven months later, he had been tortured to such a degree that he was as thin as a skeleton and on the brink of death. On November 25th, 2005, He Xuejian, a police officer from Zhuozhou city, Hebei Province, raped two Falun Gong practitioners, Liu Jizhi and Han Yuzhi openly in the process of so-called carrying out public duty. These cases are just two examples and the tip of the iceberg.
Many Falun Gong practitioners from Beijing, Shanghai, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Yunnan, Guangdong and Shandong have managed to leave China and settle overseas. Many have first hand experience of persecution in China's labour education camps, prisons and detention centres. Some of them were beaten brutally; some were forced to do hard labour; some were locked in iron cages and not allowed to eat or drink or go to the toilet; some were tortured with electric shocks; some female practitioners were even raped. This was only a small part of what remains to be exposed.
In order to expose the shocking truth of the persecution in a more in-depth manner, the simulation of torture methods that Falun Gong practitioners suffer, with practitioners in realistic make-up playing the parts 'live', first took place in New York in 2003.
Given that the people outside China have a general knowledge of the the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the CPP, the anti-torture exhibitions offered an opportunity for them to learn more deeply about the awful cruelty of the persecution. Standing before the anti-torture exhibition, more and more people were shocked and were led to ponder, "Why are such cruel things happening to mankind today in the 21st century? What can we do?"
Anti-torture exhibition in Europe
Anti-torture exhibitions began to appear all over Europe in succession during the past several years: from the UN building to the to European Union building; from Russia to Italy; in crowded city centres, parks, open markets, city halls, railway stations, and tourist attractions. At those places where people gathered, anti-torture exhibitions were held to reveal the true enormity of the persecution.
When the European people saw photos of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, as well as the anti-torture exhibitions, many were extremely shocked. Listening to practitioner's introductions people cried out in dismay that it was too cruel and too inhumane, very serious! A lot of people exclaimed, "Such a persecution taking place today?!"
A child pointed at a practitioner playing the role of a Chinese policeman and said angrily that someone should make a phone call to the police quickly to arrest the bad guy who was tormenting that woman.
In Finland an old lady even orders the practitioner who played the policeman to release the tortured occupant of the cage.
In the past few years, practitioners have stood fast under burning sun, in snow, rain and cold wind. Sometimes, the exhibitions would go on for more than seven hours and extremely physically challenging.. However, when the practitioners saw that a lot of people have understood the truth, the happiness in their hearts was the strongest feeling.
People showed shock, indignation and sympathy, and some even covered their faces and cried. People came one after another to sign their names to express support for an end to the persecution. Hundreds of thousands of people have accepted our leaflets, newspapers, bookmarks and VCDs. Countless people have understood what is going on in China after talking with practitioners face-to-face.
A reporter from a radio station in Switzerland came to an anti-torture exhibition and after looking at all the information boards and listening to practitioners' introduction, he understood the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners. The reporter was extremely sympathetic and voluntarily offered to make an appointment with practitioners for an interview at the radio station.
Falun Gong practitioners in the UK visited local radio stations, TV stations, newspapers and liaised with the police during the preparation of the exhibition. A police officer volunteered to post the information of the activity to his workplace's internal website so that all his colleagues would be able to learn about the anti-torture exhibition. He also told the practitioners repeatedly that if they were harassed, they should notify the police immediately. The Mayor also sent a letter apologising for being unable to participate in the activity and sent his wishes for the success of the anti-torture exhibitions. City councillor John Calton had his secretary to make a telephone call and wish success to Falun Gong practitioners.
Some of the entries in a visitor's book from an anti-torture exhibition in Germany read:
"I understand and accept your activity very much. Angels are everywhere. Thanks!"
"It is very good to hold the protest here, because our democracy allows for all this. I wish you success! May God bless you!"
"I respect your basic principles. The brutal behaviours of those who persecute you have no value at all and will only demean themselves"
After seeing the anti-torture exhibition, a practitioner's German colleague said, “You really have courage! You are angels, oh no, you are like Jesus!"
Until the end of the of persecution, no end to the protests
Practitioners say, "We who cultivate have no enemy and we urge people to do good and repeatedly give evil a chance to turn towards goodness. From the beginning of the persecution, we have insisted on peaceful and rational protest, just like what we did today to tell everyone the truth, hoping you can understand the truth of the unreasonable and illegal persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP and extend a helping hand to us to prevent and persecution together."
When kind-hearted people all expressed support for Falun Gong; when they found out about the truth and learned about the CCP's trampling on human rights; when people condemned the evil CCP for violating international human rights conventions; when the people of the world understood the evil nature of the CCP; when the people of the world supported us to send Jiang Zemin to an international tribunal; when the people of the world supported ten million people to withdraw from the evil party; the evil CCP began to collapse by itself and it is a sure indication that the persecution will be stopped.
A passerby sighed and told a practitioner, "I study history and have done research and have understanding of China's history. China has a civilisation and history of five thousand years, is praised as being a paradigm of courtesy by the world and has made a great contribution to mankind in history. How can it become so cruel and ferocious today?!"
The practitioner told him that those who persecute Falun Gong practitioners who believe in truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are not China nor the Chinese nation but the evil CCP that is ruling China in dictatorship. At the beginning of the 20th century, the evil communist doctrine was introduced to China. It destroyed Chinese culture and trampled on China's civilisation and brought to the Chinese nation endless disasters. All this has been explained in detail in an editorial published by the Epoch Times newspaper, entitled "Nine Commentaries of the Communist Party." Practitioners gave him a copy of the "Nine Commentaries" in English and suggested that he study the nature of the CCP and why it persecutes Falun Gong practitioners.
Anti-torture exhibitions in Britain started in July 2004, beginning at London’s Houses of Parliament and followed by exhibitions in Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Leicester, Manchester, and Southampton. Practitioners in the UK say that they will continue the exhibitions until the persecution is over.
Yes, Falun Gong practitioners in the whole world are all clear: until there is an end to the persecution, there will be no stop to the protests.
Photographs of anti-torture exhibitions held across Europe:
Countries include Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and the UK.
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