United Kingdom: Raising Awareness about Falun Gong in St. Martins Square London

On August 18th, 2008, British Falun Gong practitioners held activities in St. Martins Square in central London again to expose the atrocities of the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong. They condemned the Chinese regime’s escalation of the persecution before the Olympics and urged the general public to condemn the brutality.

Falun Gong practitioners participating in the activities found that the on-going Beijing Olympics has drawn more attention to China and its human right situation. At the famous Trafalgar Square, practitioners displayed eye-catching English banners reading “Genocide is happening in China now” and “Condemn the Chinese regime’s arrest of Falun Gong practitioners before the Olympics.”

Falun Gong display boards attracted a lot of people’s attention. Upon accepting flyers, many people stopped to read the information on the display boards. As soon as practitioners set up the booth, some people came over to ask for more information. Throughout the six hours, people took came over to the booth one after another and signed the petition against the persecution. Falun Gong practitioners made good use of this opportunity to talk to people face to face. They were pleased to find that more and more people have come to know the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution and those who have realised the truth would also like to disseminate the truth to others voluntarily.

When spotting a British woman pointing to the display boards while talking to the people around her, our reporter approached her for an interview with her. When asked if she understood the truth about the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong, the women who identified herself as May Wester immediately said that she has quite understood the nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its atrocities. She said that she was angry about the regime’s recent arrest of a British TV reporter while he was shooting the scene of a peaceful protest staged by advocates of “Free Tibet.” She also said, “We don't like communists at all. They are so cruel and are not considerate of others. They cannot reasonably deal with things and are liable to resort to violent crackdowns.” “To construct a beautiful Olympic Village, many residents were forcibly moved out of their homes and their houses were demolished forcibly.” “I support your endeavor.”

Mr. Roberson is a youngster from southeastern London, whose handsome face was beaming with sincerity. He signed the petition along with his father after they accepted flyers and stopped to read them thoroughly. The youngster told our reporter, “I don’t understand why all these things have happened. It is inconceivable that such innocent and peaceful people should be persecuted.” “I think that whatever you have done will work and I really hope so.” He also mentioned that he would definitely let more people know what he saw that day. In addition, he told our reporter that he was going to study mass media at university this coming September and that he might start with reporting something like this (the persecution of Falun Gong).

Though the three members of an Italian family who came to London for sightseeing didn’t stop after accepting flyers, their attention was attracted by the display boards. Right after viewing the boards, the husband returned to the booth along with his wife and his son to sign the petition. When the practitioners around expressed their appreciation to them, these practitioners found that they didn’t speak English, but the wife still tried her best to say, “China needs Change.”

Diana, an Italian girl who came to London as a tourist, heard of Falun Gong for the first time when she was at the St. Martins Square that day. After lingering at the Falun Gong booth for a while, she signed the petition against the persecution. She said in an interview that she was shocked to see the sharp contrast between the peaceful Falun Gong practitioners sitting in meditation next to the banners and the photos of the Falun Gong practitioners being cruelly persecuted by the Chinese police. A practitioner around told her that such unacceptable and cruel persecution has been going on for over nine years. The heinous persecution against innocent people must be ended immediately. Diana expressed that she would further understand Falun Gong while she happily accepted a CD given to her by a Falun Gong practitioner.

There were two French girls stayed in front of the display boards for quite a while. One of them was Ginny, who spoke better English, told a Falun Gong practitioner approaching her that it was the very first time for her to hear about Falun Gong. She said, “It is important for you to do such things.” Before leaving, she told a practitioner, “After returning to France, I’ll try my best to let more people know the facts about Falun Gong.” Our reporter found that Falun Gong practitioners’ truth-clarification display boards also attracted a lot of Chinese people’s attention. A Thai couple living in London saw the demonstration of Falun Gong exercises for a long while. When talking to them, our reporter found that the husband was an overseas Chinese person and could speak Chinese mandarin, but his Thai wife could only speak English. The wife was eager to ask our reporter where they could learn the exercises, while her husband was anxious to get Falun Gong publications on the spot. When they were told that the information about the Falun Gong exercises free teaching at the Regent's Park on weekends and was available on the Internet, they seemed to be very happy. As the Thai wife told our reporter that it was inconceivable and unacceptable to see such a peaceful cultivation practice persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime. She and her Chinese husband thus signed the petition against the persecution.

As a practitioner was explaining the facts about the persecution to a British man in front of the display boards, our reporter found an elderly Chinese person quietly listening to what the practitioner said. After talking to him, it turned out that he was an overseas Chinese person living in Singapore. He told the reporter that he did know the facts that Falun Gong was persecuted by the Chinese regime, but he really wanted to know the reasons behind the persecution. He was wondering if Falun Gong had done something “against the Chinese government or something not allowed by the “government.” The practitioner explained, “Falun Gong practitioners have never done anything against the government. In fact, it is the Chinese Communist regime that perpetrated the persecution out of its instinctual fear of Falun Gong practitioners cultivating themselves according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. The more people practicing Falun Gong, the more fearful the CCP would be, as the Chinese Communist regime was established based on violence and lies. It launched the persecution of Falun Gong based on its fabricated lies, and the persecution has been going on until now.” “The persecution of Falun Gong is by no means a matter of how stringent it would control its people, and the fact is that there are absolutely no human rights in the CCP’s eyes. It has no bottom lines on human right abuses as the CCP is basically against humanity.” The elderly person with stern face thus nodded his head and seemed that he was contemplating on something serious.

Among several students at the booth, there was a boy with a Chinese looking face. It turned out that he is a child of a Chinese official working at the Chinese Embassy in France. Standing in front of the exhibition booth, the boy asked a practitioner, “You are doing something against China here, aren’t you?” The practitioner thus patiently clarified the truth to him. He said to the boy that what Falun Gong practitioners have done was simply telling people what Falun Gong is, exposing the Chinese Communist regime’s cruel persecution against Falun Gong and calling for an end to the atrocity. He added that actually the CCP is the culprit that has killed over 80 million Chinese people. The practitioner further told him that he should know right from wrong and choose justice and that if he really wanted to do something good for China, he should support the persecuted people, oppose the persecution of Chinese people and help stop the Chinese regime to commit the crimes against Chinese people; whatever Falun Gong practitioners have done is for the benefit of China. In addition, he said, “As we are all Chinese, it is our common wish to do something good for China.” The boy finally said, “Yes, I think so.”