Report from Estonia: A Successful Press Conference

On June 12, 2002, about 200 practitioners from all over the world travelled to the Tallin, Estonia, to clarify the truth. Practitioners cooperated fully with the local police and were able to do Fa Zheng Nian [maintaining a tranquil mind after reciting a Falun Gong verse once – Ed. Note] without problems.

There was also a small group of practitioners that clarified the truth to the government and media about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. Practitioners delivered truth-clarifying packages to the Estonian Parliament building and to the local officials as well.

Just as the Chinese delegation was arriving in Tallin at 11:30 a.m., practitioners held a press conference in Hotel Olympia. It just so happens that this was the same hotel that the Chinese delegation was staying at. Although the press conference was only arranged by phone by practitioners while in Riga, Latvia the evening before, the press conference was a huge success. More than 10 reporters came, representing the biggest TV, radio and newspaper. At 9 p.m., ETV (Estonia TV - the most popular TV station in Estonia) broadcasted an excellent report that clarified the truth about Dafa and the persecution in China.

The press conference started with a demonstration of the 5 exercises. Next a practitioner gave a brief description of Falun Dafa and the situation in China. Next, Mrs. Dai, a practitioner from Australia who brought along her 2-year-old daughter, told the story of how her husband was persecuted to death and how her family was torn apart overnight. After the speeches the reporters had many questions, and they ended up talking with practitioners for almost one and a half hours. They had questions about the staged "self-immolation," so we showed them the deconstruction video on a practitioner's laptop. One of the reporters was so moved that he decided to give us his schedule of the Chinese delegation's meetings in Tallin. This made it very easy for practitioners to maintain a close distance for appeals and doing Fa Zheng Nian.

A reporter from Radio Free Europe who came to the press conference told practitioners that not long ago, China invited several Estonian reporters to visit China. He feels that those reporters could have been unduly influenced, and they wouldn't stay neutral when they reported the Chinese delegation's visit and the issue of Falun Gong. Unfortunately, this is a common practice that China uses to attempt to sway western media.

Another reporter told us that a manager in the news department where he works at was invited to visit china one month ago, and when he came back he said that China is very good. Now, because of his trip, it is impossible for his paper to report on Falun Gong and the persecution in China.

The Chinese delegation held a press conference in Tallin on the evening of June 12th. Two local journalists told practitioners that the reporters in the press conference are mostly Chinese...about 24 of them. They were taken to the press conference in 3 vans. There were only a few local reporters. One cameraman said, "I understand it very well, all Jiang has to say is propaganda." Another reporter said, "I feel very strange that there are so many Chinese reporters when Jiang visits our country."

One reporter asked practitioners, "Now that we know the truth, what can we do to help?"

The practitioners felt that it was very good to, at the same time, clarify the truth to the government, media and people of Estonia. After only one day of clarifying the truth in Estonia, many people were familiar with Dafa and knew of the persecution in China.

Source:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/6/16/23168.html