Croatia: Calling for an End to the Persecution during CCP Visit

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Hu Jintao, together with over 200 businessmen, visited Zagreb, Croatia on 19th and 20th June. They had a meeting with the Croatian President, Prime Minister and Parliament members. Falun Dafa practitioners from Croatia and other countries took this opportunity to raise awareness amongst the media and local people about the CCP persecution against Falun Gong.

Before the arrival of Hu, Croatian practitioners handed in a letter to the President, Prime Minister and the Parliament to let them know about the ongoing persecution in China. They urged the Croatian leaders to represent Croatia’s voice and support Falun Dafa. Practitioners also told the media that local practitioners will organise activities to call for an end to the brutal persecution in China.

Falun Dafa practitioners from Croatia, Austria and Germany were handing out information and demonstrating the exercises on Central Square in Zagreb on 19th June, the Friday when Hu arrived in the city. The peaceful Falun Gong gathering drew the attention of the media. Many journalists and local people had not heard about Falun Dafa before. They were shocked when they saw the photos of Falun Dafa practitioners being persecuted. Everyone was asking: why is the Chinese Communist Party persecuting Falun Gong?

On Friday evening, Falun Dafa practitioners went to the Chinese Embassy in Zagreb and meditated for two hours. Their banner said: “Stop the Persecution Against Falun Gong”.

On 20th June, Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of the Croatian National Theatre and handed out leaflets to local people. Many taxi drivers stopped and took flyers and DVDs. Two buses of Chinese tourists were very curious about what was happening. When they saw it was Falun Dafa, they took some photos.

Some policemen took flyers and DVDs. The others read through the banners and information boards. All policemen said they never heard about Falun Gong before so they were shocked by the brutality of the ongoing persecution.

After the Chinese officials left, policemen came to find out more. They could not believe what the Chinese Communist Party has done to this peaceful group of practitioners in China. They said they never saw this sort of peaceful protest before and welcome Falun Gong practitioners coming to Zagreb again.

Alongside the activities in front of the national theatre, practitioners had a walk in the city centre. They carried their banners and also handed out flyers and DVDs. Some tourists from America asked about what the walk was about and took flyers.

By 7pm, most policemen had left for the day. At 8pm, there was a show from a Chinese gymnastics group from Dalian. When they saw the Falun Dafa banners, they were quite enthusiastic about what was on the banners. Falun Gong practitioners handed out lots of flyers and DVDs to the audience as well.