Germany: Commemoration of the Tenth Anniversary of the April 25th Appeal

On April 25, 2009, a group of North German Falun Gong practitioners assembled in front of the Hamburg Chinese Embassy and the city centre to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the April 25th Appeal and to protest the CCP's ten-year persecution of Falun Gong. They also called for a joint effort to stop the persecution of Falun Gong as soon as possible.

Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful protest in front of the Chinese Embassy

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the April 25th appeal

People sign the petitions to express their support

People listen to a Falun Gong practitioner's description of the April 25th appeal in 1999 in Beijing

In the afternoon, practitioners set up a table in the city centre (Spitale Strasse), hung banners, put up a loudspeaker, and started to broadcast the section on "The Chinese Communist Party's History of Killing" from the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. There was also a mock operating table and re-enactment of CCP doctors' harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

The host said, "Live organ harvesting is happening inside Chinese labour camps, hospitals and prisons. Many Falun Gong practitioners who believe in and follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are killed for their organs. The organs, including hearts, kidneys, and corneas, are sold for lucrative profit.

"Today is the tenth anniversary of the April 25th appeal, which happened in Beijing. We want to tell you that, during the past ten years, the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong has never stopped and the tactics being used are becoming even more terrible. It is still happening in today's China."

As the speaker continued, more and more people paused and quietly listened. Some people walked to the front of the table and asked, "What can I do for you?"

A young musician stood quietly and listened to the speeches for half an hour. He signed his name on the petition but did not leave right away; he carefully viewed every part of the poster display area for about another half an hour. He walked to the table and said to a practitioner, "I have a suggestion to make the whole display look more beautiful and make the exercise demonstration more visible." He said to the reporter, "I admire these people who have been working very hard to stop the persecution. I just want to do something for them."

The event host interviewed another practitioner, Ms. Zhu, who had been persecuted in China, to tell people, "The persecution is happening around you." Ms. Zhu was forced to write a statement giving up her practice of Falun Gong in October 1999. She told the reporter, "That was only the beginning. If you wrote that statement, they would demand that you tell them the names of those still practising and order you to change their minds. By any means imaginable, they sought to change a good person that followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance into a bad person who betrayed others." In 2005, Ms. Zhu went to the Chinese consulate in Hamburg to extend the validation period of her passport, but the Chinese officials refused. She was told, "If you promise you will not participate in any Falun Gong activities, we will extend it for you." Ms. Zhu said, "Ten years have passed but the persecution is still going on. No matter where I go, even outside China, I still can feel it."

Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Zhang stated that six of his 10 family members in China were sent to jail for practicing Falun Gong. His elder brother was sentenced the longest--14 years. One of his relatives, in order to avoid arrest, jumped from a building, which resulted in paralysis. The police did not allow him to see a doctor and did not release him, either. Now in prison, he can only crawl.

People were shocked and saddened as they listened to the speeches. The exposure of the brutal persecution made those in the busy city stop and think. All of them seemed to be immersed in their thoughts, forgetting everything else.

A Chinese passerby said, "Falun Gong is good, the CCP is very bad. It always slanders and deceives people, so I never joined it. My father is a CCP member, so I know that conflict inside the CCP is very intense."

Another young German man told a practitioner, "I have done plenty of research about the matter of Falun Gong. I feel that Falun Gong practitioners are very brave."

After listening to the practitioners' description of the persecution and an introduction of Falun Gong, a woman said, "Such a big issue. I'd never heard of it. So many people are insisting on practising despite the severe persecution. There must be a reason." She asked for information about the practice site and said she would go soon.