Belgium: Falun Gong Activities During a Cultural Festival in the City of Leuven

The Belgium International Cultural Festival attracted tens of thousands of people to the university city of Leuven on May 30th, 2008. Falun Gong practitioners from Belgium set up a booth during the festival, to demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises, tell others about the benefits of the practice and raise awareness about the persecution of pracititioners in China.

People signing the petition calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong

While festival-goers were watching Falun Gong practitioners demonstrating the five exercises with interest, a practitioner was explaining to them what Falun Gong is, how he has benefited from practising and how Falun Gong is being slandered and persecuted in China. Many people wanted to learn Falun Gong. Upon learning that practitioners offer free instruction of Falun Gong in parks in all big cities every weekend, many said they would come to learn.

On learning the truth, even more people signed the petition to stop the persecution. A campaign was launched by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong calling for an end to the persecution before the Olympic Games. In the afternoon a total of more than 700 people signed the petition.

Although many other booths also distributed balloons, children visiting the festival still came to the practitioners' booth for balloons reading “The world needs Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance” and they waited in a long line to get one. Many children were so interested in the lotus flowers made with paper that they sat near the desk trying to learn how to fold them. Exquisite pink lotus flowers with a bookmark hung underneath worded with “Falun Gong is Good”, was a gift for themselves which was hand made by the children themselves.