Finland: Candlelight Vigil to Mourn Those Who Lost Their Lives During the Persecution of Falun Gong in China

June 26th, 2008, was International Day in Support of Torture Victims. On this day, many Falun Gong practitioners in Finland came to the railway station in the city centre and held a candlelight vigil to mourn innocent Falun Gong practitioners who have been persecuted to death.

At 4:00 pm when the activity began, many passersby stopped to watch the practitioners sitting in solemn silence before the portraits of those practitioners who had been persecuted to death. A man who had never heard about Falun Gong was attracted by the solemn scene. When hearing about the cruel persecution in mainland China he said, “Of course, these people (the deceased Falun Gong practitioners) should be remembered”. A Falun Gong practitioner told him, “The deceased you have seen are only a small part of the many. At once he went to the table and signed his name on the petition form calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. He also asked for more information about the truth.

Having heard about so many good people who had been persecuted to death for practicing Falun Gong, many people signed their names in support of an end to the persecution and asked for more information about Falun Gong.

During the activity, short and intermittent thunder was heard and some dark clouds came over in the clear sky followed by a brief shower. An old Finnish lady said to the Falun Gong practitioners, “You came here to mourn those Falun Gong practitioners who were persecuted to death. The roaring thunder in the sky with falling of the light rain seem to show that Heaven shares your sadness”.

Since 1999, the CCP has used all sorts of brutal means to persecute Falun Gong practitioners forcing them to give up their faith. Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and detained and subjected to every kind of maltreatment in the Forced Labour Camps, prisons, brain-washing classes and mental hospitals. Even more shocking to the world, the organs of Falun Gong practitioners were removed and sold for profit by the CCP. Several thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death during the bloody persecution in mainland China. There are still countless Falun Gong practitioners who are being subjected to the evil and brutal persecution.

The rainfall and thunders did not stop the Falun Gong practitioners from mourning the deceased fellow practitioners here. A Falun Gong practitioner Anja said, “The thunder and rainfall have not stopped people from coming to find out more. On the contrary, people came of their own accord to learn about the truth and signed their names expressing their support”.