Germany: Falun Gong "Information Day" in Hamburg

Practitioners set up a booth with a yellow pavilion and sign reading "Falun Gong" in the middle of Hamburg's Monks Mountain Street. It was highly visible to everyone in the area. Many banners, as well as a re-enactment of organ removal drew the interest of the passersby. Posters showed the face of a dead man whose face was contorted in pain. One could see that his chest had been cut open and than sutured.

Below the photos one could read the facts about organ theft, which is secretly and systematically performed by the Communist Chinese Party (CCP). Many people passed the booth, came to a stop and read the information. Then, they approached the table and signed the petition, demanding an end to the atrocities perpetrated in China.

On Saturday June 7th 2008 Falun Gong practitioners arranged a demonstration in Hamburg's Gerhard-Hauptmann Square to inform people of the continued persecution of Falun Gong, including the latest incidents of vicious attacks on practitioners in New York's Chinatown Flushing. The Chinese Consulate instigated these violent attacks on Falun Gong practitioners by inciting the Chinese community with hate propaganda. They alleged that Falun Gong was against the Shizuan earthquake relief efforts and collections of funds on behalf of the victims and other Chinese on-goings.

One student from the Harz located in the North German mountain region asked, "Is it really true that innocent people have bamboo sticks stuck into their fingers in China?" He was on a student trip to Hamburg and stopped with three students at the booth. He definitely was deeply shocked by the re-enactment in the torture cage, showing a person's hands pierced by bamboo barbs. "This is savage," said the youngster and his body shook in disgust. He continued, "This is unbelievable! I must definitely sign the petition."

Can you imagine being sentenced to forced labour for doing this?

While the youngster was signing, without hesitating, all the petitions, the call for an end to the organ harvesting in China; the petition to save a Chinese family who was denied asylum by the German courts and deported to China; and the "One Million Signature Drive Petition," the other three wanted to hear more about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. "We have never been told in the Harz region about this. We did not know anything that there are such brutal human rights violations perpetrated in China," they said in one voice. Before leaving all four had signed all the petitions.

After some time, a group of young girls passed the booth. They came to an immediate halt in front of the re-enactment of the organ theft and wanted to hear all the truth about the circumstances happening in China. After they had signed the petition they found out that boys from their group who had signed ahead of them. One of the girls said, "Come and see, our classmates have already signed the petition."

"Can we sign this?" asked a martial arts master, who had lived for more than six years in a Buddhist temple in China. "I'm not surprised about the persecution, as the monks were visibly suppressed too. It is time that the communist regime disappears. They are destroying China and its culture. The monks and the Falun Gong practitioners do not fight back, so they have become the Communist Party's victims. Yes, this is so ingrained into these people."

A member of a religious association said with great sympathy to the practitioners the minute she saw the suffering depicted in the pictures, and once she had heard about the magnitude of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, "This can't go on like that. There will be a time when the suffering will end."

Many people heard because of the information day about the persecution of Falun Gong and also some Chinese received some informational material. Some also had the opportunity to talk with Falun Gong practitioners. The importance was that some misunderstandings, which had arisen because of the misinformation publicised by the CCP, could be eliminated. At the same time many publications of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party were distributed.

Many practitioners from Hamburg and its surroundings were present during the information activities. They all were of the opinion that it was a great opportunity to let more people know about the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong.