Sweden: Peaceful Appeal Outside the Chinese Consulate General in Gothenburg

On Friday August 4th, Falun Gong practitioners and practitioners from other parts of Sweden held a peaceful appeal outside the Chinese Consulate General in Gothenburg. The Consul General Cui Jianchao had a farewell party, which meant that there were many visitors who came to the Consulate General, both Chinese and Swedish. Falun Gong practitioners thought that it was a good opportunity to inform the visitors about the cruel persecution that is still going on against Falun Gong practitioners in China. They especially wanted to highlight the Chinese Communist Party’s organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners.

The practitioners displayed banners and appealed for an immediate stop to the atrocities. Falun Gong practitioners also used a loudspeaker to inform people about the persecution both in Swedish and Chinese. In the afternoon and evening there were many tourists and locals who saw the practitioner’s banners and accepted flyers. There were quite a lot of people who passed by during the day. The Chinese Consulate General is located near the centre of Gothenburg and on this day the "city festival" of the European Championship in Athletics started and attracted many people.

When Falun Gong practitioners were holding this activity, staff from the Consulate came out to take pictures of Falun Gong practitioners. We again offered advice to the staff of the Consulate to desist from participating in this persecution. Every person has his own responsibility and when this persecution ends, all who have participated in it will surely be brought to justice.

Person from the Consulate taking pictures of practitioners

During the time that Cui Jianchao was Consul General he sadly has had an active role in participating in this persecution of Falun Gong practitioners abroad. He has for example attempted to pressure the Swedish authorities to stop Falun Gong practitioners’ weekly appeal outside the Consulate. To the Consul General Cui Jianchao who will be leaving the Consulate General we want to say that Falun Gong practitioners will continue to have peaceful appeals outside the Chinese Consulate until this persecution ends. To speak and act when you are being treated unfairly is a human beings most basic right. We hope that the Consul General will come to understand how cruel and wrong this persecution is.

Originally published in Swedish at: http://se.clearharmony.net/articles/200608/18565.html