Personal Experiences from Sweden’s Human Rights Torch Relay: “I did something meaningful today.”

On October 14th 2007 after its previous stop in Oslo, Norway, the Human Rights Torch Relay arrived in Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden and moved the Swedish people greatly.

The Olympic Games is more than a sports event - it is a symbol of peace. When the human race is pursuing a highly civilized world, the Chinese Communist Party, in contrast, is placing the Chinese people under its cruel tyranny. Among the victims of the CCP persecution, Falun Gong practitioners are the most severely persecuted. In past years, the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong has kept escalating. For their belief, Falun Gong practitioners are fired from their work, sent to labour camps, tortured and sentenced to imprisonment. Even worse, the CCP is committing even more horrifying and inhumane atrocities by harvesting organs from living practitioners, cremating their bodies to destroy all traces of evidence and selling their organs to foreigners for high prices.

Learning that the HRTR has been designed to rescue my fellow Chinese countrymen and to stop the CCP’s crimes, I, as an ethnic Chinese, decided to participate in the long running of the relay despite of the fact that I am already more than fifty years old.

When I arrived at the Stadium Sports Centre at about 12 O’clock, I saw some flyers and posters reading: “No Olympic Games by the CCP!” I wondered what I could do to help. The sports centre is located in the suburb of the city, so there were not many pedestrians but there were many cars passing by. Then I took a poster and some flyers and stood at the side of the road to attract people’s attention to the on-going activity.

At about 1 O’clock more and more people gathered around, among whom there was a police car. When the police car approached me I saw a policeman in the front right seat smile to me and give me his thumb up. They were the policemen detailed to clear the way in front of the parade. From their gestures I could see that they were not simply taking it as a routine job, but were supporting us from their heart.

Four members of a family in the Human Right Torch Relay

Most remarkably, at about 1:20 there came a young couple who were very tall. Each of them rode a bicycle that carried a child. The father’s name was Martin and the mother’s name was Cecilia, and the children’s names were Filippa and Frits. They said: “We learned several days ago that the Human Rights Torch Relay would come to Sweden, but we did not know where it is going to be held. Fortunately, we saw some people in clothes with the signs of Human Rights Torch Relay in the street. They told us that a long relay is to be held at the sports centre. We think that the activity is quite meaningful, so we come here with our children.”

They were at the back of the parade riding their bicycles. I was very moved by their upright action. I thought: Some day in the future, when the CCP’s crimes are stopped, they will realise that they had played a significant part in this great historic event. Maybe their children do not yet understand the aim to participate in the parade with their parents, but, when they grow up, their parents will tell them: “When you were very young, you had participated in a really meaningful event of a human rights torch relay with your parents.” They will thank their parents for having planted the seeds of compassion in their mind when they were so young.

Before the running, I saw a thin elderly man carrying a bag. I thought he was just passing by, so I handed him a flyer. He took it and put it in his pocket, went to the crowd, put his bag on the ground and took out a T-shirt with the HRTR signs. For some unknown reason his finger was cut and bleeding which stained his clothes. He asked me if we have bandages to stop the bleeding. I said no, but I gave him a tissue. He banded his finger with the tissue and said: “I will be OK.” He ran the whole distance.

At 1:30, the running started. Not long after, I saw a lady in long skirt and boots and wearing a hat of a rare style also joined in the parade and started to run. Later, three ladies joined us and started to run in front of me. From their dress it was not likely that they had come especially for this. In their leather shoes, they could hardly run freely. I thought they would not run a long way. However, they all covered the whole distance.

Midway a lady named Wosa, already sixty eight years old, joined in the parade riding her bicycle. She said that more people should join in the parade.

When the parade arrived at the city centre, more people crowded around us. Some applauded, some filmed us with their cameras, some ran together with us for a little while and some gave their mineral water to the runners for free. I was very moved when all these happened right in front of my eyes.

This was an extraordinary parade. With police cars clearing the way, in the parade there were people of all ages from white haired old men to young children, flyer distributors, poster carriers, runners, bicycle riders and families in their cars followed. They were from different races, beliefs and genders, but they came for the same purpose: to call for an immediate end to the persecution in China and to express their opposition to the Olympic Games being held in China.

I have not run for many years, so I was quite tired, before I ran a long way. However, the Swedish people’s kindness inspired me to continue to run. When my pace became slow, two young men at my side urged me to run on. In this way, I covered the whole distance. As a Chinese, I have accomplished the most meaningful thing to help end the suffering of my Chinese compatriots.

I thought: The kind Swedish people care for the human rights of Chinese people and their suffering. How could we Chinese overlook the suffering of our compatriots? In the fifty years after the CCP came into power, it has killed more than eighty million Chinese through all kinds of political movements. If we just let the CCP continue its atrocities, more Chinese will be sacrificed. The CCP persecuted its chairman to death and cracked down on the patriotic students with machine guns and tanks. It is harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners to sell and cremating the victims’ bodies to destroy all traces of evidence. Isn’t it really an inhumane beast?

I hope my Chinese compatriots will wake up soon! I hope the human rights torch will awaken more people! I hope the CCP’s atrocities will end soon!