Before the 2004 European Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Vienna, in the early morning of June the 20th 2004, about 150 of the conference attendees gathered to practise the Falun Gong exercises together. The scene was reminiscent of China before the persecution, when groups of hundreds of people would gather together in the mornings in parks before they went to work to practise, leaving them refreshed and invigorated ready for the day ahead.