Falun Gong Activities in Galway, Ireland

Over the 2 days of Saturday 22nd June and Sunday 23rd June, several practitioners from around Ireland held HongFa [public display of Falun Dafa] in the city of Galway, Ireland.

When we first arrived at the main street, we placed a banner on the ground outside a shop. The shop manager soon came out and asked us to move to another place. We found that we could not stand in front of any buildings because there were shops along both sides of the street; we could only stay in the middle of the street. We moved to junction that joined 3 streets in a Y-shape. This turned out to be a very good place to demonstrate the exercises. We placed the banner and photos on the ground, and started playing the exercise music.

We did the exercises continuously in turn for the whole afternoon, which attracted many on-lookers. People were getting to know about Falun Dafa just through our tranquil practising.

Recently Teacher Li made comments on a practitioner’s article which suggested that we should behave particularly well in front of the Chinese embassies and consulates. During this HongFa activity in Galway, we all felt the importance of behaving well in public. We felt that our tranquil exercises were the best way to display the good nature of Falun Dafa. We put our bags on the opposite side of the street, which ensured they did not get in peoples’ way and kept the area tidy and clean. We also had two people handing out leaflets and talking to interested passers by.

The response from Galway people was good. Many asked about the local Falun Dafa class and expressed concern about the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. Galway people turned out to be much more interested in spiritual and cultural things than the people in our hometown of Dublin.

After the group practice, we went to a room in the University of Galway to read and share experiences. We felt that the experience sharing was very important, since practitioners in Ireland rarely had the opportunity to meet.

The following day, we continued to read together and also practised the exercises in a park in the city centre. Again, we found many people were interested in the practice.

Reported by Irish Practitioners