Citizens of Iceland Apologize to Falun Gong for the Actions of the Icelandic Government (Photo)

This morning (June 13) Morgunbladid, Iceland's largest daily, ran a full-page ad in Chinese, English and Icelandic aimed at members of Falun Gong and foreign visitors of Asian descent. The title of the ad is three big red Chinese characters meaning "Apology".

We the undersigned -- common Icelandic citizens -- apologize to members of Falun Gong and other foreign visitors of Asiatic origin for the incomprehensible actions of the Icelandic authorities in connection with the state visit of the president of the People's Republic of China to Iceland.

We assure you that these actions are not in accordance with the wishes of the Icelandic people.

We furthermore strongly condemn the severe human rights violations of the Beijing tyranny on the Chinese mainland as well as China's occupied areas.

Close to 700 individuals from all walks of life--from Congressmen to poets, from blue collar workers to students-- signed the declaration. (The title and the declaration occupied about half of the page and the signatures were on 2nd half of the page)

We have also heard from Iceland that Iceland's political youth groups will stage a huge protest tomorrow (June 14). The groups will meet in front of Iceland's parliament, the Althing, at 3:30 pm and everyone will have their mouth gagged to emphasize the violation of Iceland's freedom of expression clause in the constitution, as well as to serve as a reminder of human rights violations in China. The group will then march towards a building which is said to be housing Jiang Zemin. People have discussed that they will be wearing banners saying "Falun Gong Hao!" that shouldn't go unnoticed.