Switzerland: We Will Continue to Hold These Activities until the Persecution has Ended

On August 19th, 2006, practitioners held monthly activities in Parade Square in downtown Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland. They displayed banners reading “The Chinese Communist regime Harvests Organs from Living Humans” in Chinese, German and English, and “Heaven Eliminates the CCP” in Chinese. On the desk were a variety of materials in different languages, including an introduction to Falun Gong, flyers and CDs explaining the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong in the past seven years or so, reports that a Canadian independent investigation task force found that the allegation of the Chinese Communist regime’s harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners is true, and the “Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party” which are a series of editorial articles published by the Epoch Times to expose the evil nature of the CCP.

On the ground in front of the information desk was a big display board showing the photo of a large scale demonstration of Falun Gong exercises in China before it was persecuted by the Chinese regime and photos of anti-torture exhibitions along with their subtitles. The peacefulness of the demonstration of Falun Gong exercises is in sharp contrast to the cruel persecution. Many passersby stopped to view the photos one after another. Some of them even knelt down to see them more clearly. After that, they took initiative to go to the signature stand to sign the petition for putting an end to the persecution.

Some practitioners handed out leaflets in front of the information booth, while others demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises to music behind the display board. Still others further explained to the people around the booth about the materials on display and the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. Some practitioners just folded the newspapers and put flyers into them to facilitate the distribution processing. As more and more people came to accept the materials, they ran out of the prepared materials very soon.

Those responsible for distributing flyers returned to the booth to replenish flyers in Turkish, Spanish, Korean and Japanese from time to time. Since the Parade Square is situated at Zurich’s shopping heaven Bahnhofstrasse, in addition to the Swiss who came there for shopping on the weekend, there were tourists from around the world among the bustling crowd, and, of course, the Chinese from mainland China were among them.

Chinese are eager to know the facts about Falun Gong

Practitioners told our reporter that nowadays more and more Chinese people are willing to accept leaflets as opposed to the situation in the past that many Chinese might stay away from us, walk away in anger, or even say some nasty words to us.

At the moment, there came a group of Chinese tourists. When Falun Gong practitioner Xiao Yang approached them with truth flyers in his hand, they expressed that they had received the materials previously. Xiao Yang thus asked them if they have read the “Nine Commentaries on the CCP.” Some replied that they had read it when in Paris. The brief conversation inspired their willingness of further talking to the practitioners. They brought up various questions, such as “Why Falun Gong practitioners are distributing the ‘Nine Commentaries on the CCP?” ”The practitioner replied, “As you can see, the ‘Nine Commentaries on the CCP’ detailed what the CCP is, the CCP’s persecution of Chinese people in the past fifty years or so, and among others, the reasons why the CCP persecutes Falun Gong. Who is persecuting Falun Gong? Isn’t it the CCP? Therefore, the purpose of giving away the ‘Nine Commentaries on the CCP’ is to help the Chinese people realise the intrinsic nature of the CCP, so that they won’t be deceived by the fabricated lies. If all the Chinese people are able to know the truth, can the lie-based persecution against Falun Gong practitioners continue to rampage?”

Then they continued to inquire into the issues regarding the allegation that Falun Gong does not allow practitioners to take medicine. Xiao Yang told them that Falun Gong does not ban practitioners from taking medicine, and that after cultivating Falun Gong, practitioners regain their health as their ailments are cured; why they need to take medicine any longer. He also pointed to Ingeborg, a gray-haired western practitioner who was giving away flyers, and said that Ingeborg is over sixty years old and she was hospitalised for seven years before she practiced Falun Gong. It was absolutely impossible for her to lead a normal life in the past, but she is energetic with high spirit. She doesn’t feel tired, though standing there to distribute leaflets for long hours, as she is very healthy. Does she need to take medicine?

“Why did practitioners commit suicide?” is another question frequently asked by Chinese tourists. “The U.N. International Education Development (IED) has confirmed that the self-immolation incident was staged by the Chinese Communist regime,” replied Xiao Yang. Then he started to enumerate various dubious aspects in the farce. For instance, how could it be possible for the police to get so many fire extinguishers handy within one minute? What’s even stranger was that the twelve year old burn victim Liu Siying could talk with the interviewers and sing so loudly, after her trachea was cut open. Was it a medical miracle? “Where is the source of the leaflets distributed to passersby?” “Why do you set up a booth here?” “Why are westerners distributing material here?” They brought up all kind of questions one after another, and Xiao Yang answered them one by one. They seemed to have more questions to ask when they were about to leave. Xiao Yang told our reporter that it would be no problem; as Falun Gong has been spread to over eighty countries around the world; they may come across Falun Gong practitioners at their next destination, and got more answers.

Righteous passersby

“How can I help you?” This is the question frequently asked by passersby. “Sign the petition to help put an end to the persecution; please tell more people about the facts you have known; please write to government officials, parliamentarians, mass media to ask them to help put an end to this persecution against kind-hearted people.” These are the answers usually given by Falun Gong practitioners.

When knowing the fact that the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners have been going on for years, many passersby expressed that it was really horrendous. Some asked that whether Swiss might have been transplanted this kind of organs; it was indeed extremely awful; it was crueler than what Hitler did in the past; they wanted to sign the petition to stop this persecution.

A well-dressed elderly man told Falun Gong practitioners that he had heard of Falun Gong, but he didn’t know that Falun Gong practitioners’ organs are harvested when still alive; it is really very terrible; you should let more people understand this matter. He also mentioned that he would read the “Nine Commentaries on the CCP” thoroughly so as to further figure out the reasons why the Chinese Communist would do things like that.

Many Arabic-speaking passersby were pleased to accept leaflets. After taking a copy of the flier, a passerby who went shopping at a store and recommended the Arabic-speaking store operator that he comes to us for a copy of the materials. He was sure that Falun Gong is good and righteous right after he saw the words “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.”

In reply to a question raised by a reporter, “What is the reason for holding such Information Day activities?”, a practitioner replied that holding such activities is to help more people understand and pay attention to the on-going persecution against kind-hearted people in China. After practicing Falun Gong, she has benefited both mentally and physically from the practice. Especially her character has improved tremendously, and she will no longer haggle over personal gains. As she is more and more patient, the relationship between her husband and her has became more and more harmonious. Therefore she cannot tolerate the Chinese Community regime’s arbitrary persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Practitioners said that by handing out leaflets and information, talking with people, demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises and holding activities such as these repeatedly, passersby are no long apathetic like before. Instead they are more and more concerned about Falun Gong. At present, more and more people are willing to accept information materials and have come to know the fact of the Falun Gong. Some expressed that when shopping, they would consider whether they should buy the cheap products manufactured in China’s forced labour camps, while some expressed that they also want to practice Falun Gong.