UK Newspaper: Protest Held Over Organ Harvesting in Chinese Camps

Followers of the ancient Chinese practice of Falun Gong have gathered in Bath to stage a protest.

Campaigners collected signatures in Bath city centre on Saturday to raise awareness about the illegal trade of organ harvesting in China.

The campaigners claim that followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China are being persecuted and used to meet an international demand for donor organs.

Protesters handed out leaflets outside Bath Abbey and collected signatures for a petition which will be sent to Prime Minister Tony Blair urging the British Government to raise the issue with the United Nations.

Simon Miller, the event organiser, said: "We had huge numbers of people take our newspaper and leaflets and sign the petition.

"It was very successful and a lot of people seemed to be genuinely shocked."

The practice of Falun Gong is similar to the Eastern art of Tai Chi but is banned in China as the government believes it poses a threat to social and political stability.

Human rights group Amnesty International has claimed that thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in security crackdowns in the country and could be at serious risk of torture or ill-treatment.

"We wanted to raise awareness of the persecution with particular reference to the terrible abuse and about the human organ harvesting that has been going on," said Mr Miller.