Sweden: North European Falun Gong Practitioners Rally in Gothenburg to Protest against the Persecution of Falun Gong

On June 28th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners in Northern Europe held a grand parade in Gothenburg to protest against the Chinese Communist regime’s nine year long persecution of Falun Gong and to support the 39 million Chinese people who have quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organisations. The procession included three sections with the theme of Falun Dafa Is Good, Stop persecuting Falun Gong and Support the 39 million Chinese people denouncing the CCP.

Banners expose the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong

Falun Gong practitioners rally in front the Chinese Consulate in Gothenburg	A representative of the CCP-quitting Service Centre in Sweden speaks at the rally

The procession set off from Gothenburg’s cultural centre Gotaplatsen. The magnificence of the waist drum team and the traditional Chinese dance team attracted many passersby attention. After passing the busy business district, the procession went south to pass the old town and the Chinese Consulate in Gothenburg. The procession finally arrived at Gustaf Adolf Torget at the city hall. Many passersby joined the parade on the way to show their support for Falun Gong practitioners.

Among the participants in the parade were some Falun Gong practitioners from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Poland, Latvia and volunteer workers of the Northern Europe CCP quitting Service Centre and the Epoch Times.

The procession consisted of three sections. The first section featured the theme of Falun Dafa Is Good. It was composed of a waist drum team who donned golden yellow costumes and Falun Gong practitioners in a variety of traditional Chinese clothing. Throughout the parade, they incessantly manifested the magnificence and peacefulness of Falun Gong to spectators. The second section was composed of Falun Gong practitioners and people from various places around the world who are against the persecution of Falun Gong, while the third section featured the “Nine Commentaries on the CCP” and support for the 39 million Chinese people denouncing the CCP.

When the parade concluded, a rally was held at Gustaf Adolf Torget, in which Mr. Jorgen Bergman, director of the Swedish CCP quitting Service Centre, Dan Alfjorden, vice president of the Swedish Falun Dafa Association, Benjiamin, a Dafa practitioner and Manyan Ng, Executive Director of German Human Right Association spoke in turn.

Mr. Bergman said, “Since the CCP was established on July 1st 1921 in China, in particular, after it took the power to rule China, the Chinese people have undergone various calamities one after another. What have been the CCP rule are atrocities, cruel torture, massacres and lies, as a result, over 80 million Chinese people died of unnatural causes under the CCP rule. Chinese people have lived in a deplorable situation without basic human rights. However, the CCP quitting wave following the publishing of the “Nine Commentaries on the CCP” has ushered in the light of hope for the Chinese people. As the Chinese people are awakening, there have been over 39 million people quitting the CCP and its affiliated organisations. The Swedish CCP quitting Service Centre would like to help more Chinese people get rid of the calamities forcibly imposed by the Chinese regime so as to facilitate a bright future for them.”

Mr. Dan Alfjorden said, “The Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong has been going on for about nine years. Falun Gong practitioners, based on the spirits of great compassion and great tolerance, have incessantly petitioned against the persecution. Falun Gong is an ancient cultivation practice and its practitioners should constantly cultivate themselves according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance to purify their bodies and minds. That is what the Chinese regime really is afraid of. The evil Chinese regime has employed its entire national machine to crack down Falun Gong and persecute Falun Gong practitioners. To date, the confirmed number of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death is over 3,000. Here, we would like to call on all kind hearted people to further understand the facts of Falun Gong and the intrinsic evil nature of the CCP, so as to stop the persecution of Falun Gong holistically.”

The witness of the persecution against Falun Gong Benjiamin, said, “Before the persecution, I used to be a medical doctor in Beijing. I started my cultivation of Falun Gong in 1996 and have benefited a lot from it physically and mentally. Unfortunately, the Chinese regime began to launch this genocidal persecution in July 1999. I was arrested and illegally sent to a forced labour camp five times because I practiced the Falun Gong exercises in the park, petitioned to the Appeal Office for Falun Gong and exposed the atrocities of the persecution to the general public. I underwent cruel torture and brain washing and I also witnessed the persecution taking place around me. A young female teacher Zhao Xin was beaten so badly the she suffered a cervical spine fracture in the Haidian detention Centre. When I went to the hospital to see her, she was lying on the bed and couldn’t move or speak. After undergoing the suffering for a couple of months, she passed away. Li Jingsheng and I were once confined in the same cell, but he was persecuted so seriously that he died shortly after being released from the forced labour camp at the age of 39. What I had experienced and realised about the persecution is simply the tip of the iceberg. The seriousness of this evil persecution is far beyond what people can imagine. Today, I am proud of being a Falun Gong practitioner standing here. The evil CCP will never escape the destiny of being eliminated by heaven as it has committed the most heinous crimes. “Good begets good, and evil leads to evil” is the unchangeable natural law.”

In his remarks, International Human Right Association representative Mr. Ng said, “Many people know that China is the biggest market in the world. In fact, under the CCP rule, China has held many world records: the most serious human right abuser, the most notorious country in terms of the number of journalist and writers being incarcerated, the only country that has persecuted over one hundred million Falun Gong practitioners, the only place where Falun Gong practitioners’ organs are harvested and sold for profit and the regime that blocks the information on the Internet most seriously.” In the conclusion, he added, “We hope that the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners can be ended as soon as possible and we support the 39 million Chinese quitting the CCP.”

Volunteer of the CCP quitting Service Centre Ms. Dai said that as more and more civilians in China are wakening now, it has become popular among Chinese people to denounce the CCP and its affiliated organisations. From the CCP quitting phone calls he receives every day, she could tell that many people have further understood the CCP’s deceptive evil nature. In particular, after knowing the facts about how the Chinese regime dealt with the earthquake disaster in Sichuan, they have come to know that what the CCP is really concerned about is maintaining its own power instead of its people’s lives and livelihood. She said, “Currently, the number of the Chinese quitting the CCP and its affiliated organisations increases day by day and it sometimes reaches 50 to 60 thousand per day.”

When interviewed by our reporter, Manyan Ng, Executive Director of the International Human Rights Association, said that the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong has extended overseas, and the approach they have taken is inciting nationalism among the overseas Chinese. For instance, recently some Chinese were instigated by the Chinese Consulate to assault the volunteer workers at the CCP-quitting Service Centre in Flushing, New York. The Chinese regime paid overseas gangsters to make trouble for Falun Gong practitioners and even resort to violent attacks. As the Chinese regime has employed such despicable approaches to deal with peaceful and compassionate Falun Gong practitioners, it is very clear that the regime is glorious outside but rotten inside.

Ms. Alexandra, a resident of Gothenburg, told our reporter in an interview, “I am not a Falun Gong practitioner, but I think what Falun Gong practitioners have consistently done have something to do with respect for human rights. I would like to do something for the improvement of the human rights in China.”