Falun Dafa Day in Frankfurt during brilliant weather

In spite of short-term planning, practitioners did meet in Frankfurt on May 13, the 10th anniversary of Falun Dafa, the day ten years ago in 1992 when Master Li Hongzhi first introduced this system to the public. Practitioners from Frankfurt and surrounding areas met for a day to exchange ideas and participate in a bicycle tour through Frankfurt and the surrounding area.

The day began in Sachsenhausen for the seven participants. Sachsenhausen is a southern suburb on the opposite side of Frankfurt, across the Main River. Our first destination was the plaza in front of the Suedbahnhof (south train station). We were well supplied with newspapers and flyers. Our bikes were adorned with flags, lovingly handmade by a practitioner. The flags read, “Falun Gong” and also carried the Chinese characters “Zhen,Shan,Ren.” It must have been the first time for the public to see a group of people sitting in the lotus position and meditating. We sent our righteous thoughts and distributed flyers to passers-by and to surrounding retailers.

Our group, wearing yellow shirts and waving the yellow Dafa-flags created a stir from the very beginning and we had to constantly decide anew – do we aim for a new destination or do we remain and distribute information to passers-by? We did show the exercises at another location in the southern part of Frankfurt and did speak with several passers-by. From there we crossed the Main River again and rode toward the old, classic Opera House in the heart of Frankfurt, a busy, well-beloved spot during lunch break, favored by locals and tourists alike. We went there to let those people also know about Dafa. We limited ourselves to three practitioners at once, because that way we did not need a permit, and showed the exercises.

At noon we began another portion of our Dafa Day, at the “Eiserner Steg,” (Iron Bridge) an ancient, picturesque foot-traffic-only bridge across the Main River. This bridge is the main artery connecting both sections of the City of Frankfurt and is equally beloved by local people as well as tourists.

The day had become brilliantly sunny and warm, and remained so until evening. We were united in the joy of participating in this 10th anniversary with other practitioners in a festive mood. The exercise group portrayed a beautiful, harmonious picture and the afternoon sun bathed the huge, yellow Dafa banner in golden light. We were glad that many passers-by saw our group performing the exercises and asked pertinent questions. It was truly an international group of people [who met us] and we had information available in almost everyone’s language.

We paid particular attention to tourists from the PRC, whom we gave information and VCDs in Chinese. The Chinese are unwittingly our most important helpers to break Jiang Zemin’s blockade. And there were quite a few Chinese! We were overjoyed to show them that Falun Gong is practiced abroad, widely and with appreciation. That only shows up the lies the Chinese government has spread!

The bike group remained at the Opera Plaza for a long time. In this natural way we had “conquered” the area that the authorities did not issue us a permit for this time. [But because there were merely three of us instead of a large group we did not need a permit and accomplished this]. We handed out hundreds of flyers. Each one of us experienced that even though people were in a hurry, they did stop and smilingly accepted a flyer or a newspaper. They must have recognized the value [of the information], because we found few flyers tossed on the ground.

After that the group rode to the Main River Promenade (an elegant, broad walkway along the river, beautifully landscaped and adorned with statuary and benches) where we made sure the people strolling along became aware of us. Most everyone received some reading material; almost no one sitting on the benches was left out. Flyers were handed around from cyclist to cyclist.

Everyone had fun during our first-ever cycling tour of Frankfurt. Our group united with the other who had spent time at “Eiserner Steg,” where it so happened that a TV team was videotaping a Falun Gong segment. Because of the great weather, many superior pictures could document this 10th anniversary of Dafa Day. We all left in a happy mood, having had a successful day.

(Original text in German)