– Dresden Falun Gong Followers protest against human rights
April 10, 2002
“Do you think they will eventually move again?” The comments of passers-by and gawkers are sarcastic, when they see a mix of six Chinese/German people every Sunday between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. doing their exercises. They sit in on a lawn in “Grossen Garten” (Grand Garden) and move gracefully and slowly. “Far-east exercise movements they are, somewhere between yoga and Tai Chi,” some speculate, but they miss their mark by a mile. What is being practiced here is called Falun Gong. Some people on roller blades, racing up to the meditation spot, stop abruptly, to stand and watch. The Chinese government entities that call Falun Gong an undesirable group, bans it: “We have to continue to fight against Falun Gong and other undesirable groups,” so said Chinese Premier Mr. Zhu Rongji as late as March of this year during the meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
“I merely want to become a good person, that’s why I practise Falun Gong,” said Mr. Rong Zhao. Eyes closed, wearing a signature Falun Gong yellow sweatshirt, the young Chinese man obeys the instructions sounding from a cassette player sitting on the grass. The young Chinese man had studied electronics and is presently employed at Dresden’s Technical University. He had discovered Falun gong in 1998, not in China but in Berlin where he had begun his university studies. “There are many people in Berlin who practise Falun Gong,” he said.
There are fewer of those in Dresden. One of the members is a German, Mr. Andreas Opfermann, an independent project developer who is married to a Chinese woman. He had always been enchanted by the Far East, long before he had met his wife who studied in Dresden. Why this interest? “Why not,” he responds. “Some prefer soccer or watch television,” he adds. He has practiced the meditation system of Falun Gong since 1999. This 34-year-old meditates daily. It has helped him to get along better with people, to experience less stress and to co-operate better. But his interest in Falun Gong reaches beyond the personal. “In China, followers of the movement have been executed and murdered, they are dragged into Forced Labor Camps and prisons,” he said. That is one reason for him to bring their plight to the attention of the public, with events such as an SOS-March.
Tomorrow, when Chinese President Jiang Zemin is expected to visit Dresden, Mr. Andreas Opfermann and others will protest against human rights abuses in China. Originally they had planned to erect their information table at the “Zwinger” (Dresden’s famous zoo), located along the official visitation route. But this plan was foiled, because no one is allowed to get that close to the Chinese head of state. German authorities are trying to keep all unpleasantness, such as civil war [in China] and pesky press inquiries away from him. The Falun Gong practitioners had to change their plans. They will instead meditate in front of the Culture Palace, out of view of the illustrious visitor.
By Heidrun Hannusch
(Original text in German)
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