Returning to Iceland for July 20th

On 20 July 2002, the third anniversary day of persecution of Falun Gong, a group of European practitioners arrived in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland and the destination city of a Nordic SOS tour starting from Gothenburg, via Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Malmo and Copenhagen.

Meeting with the Icelandic people showed us clearly that the Icelandic people have not forgotten the issue of Falun Gong. It is still a hot topic in the media. As an Icelandic human rights watch campaigner put it: “ Icelandic people tend to forget similar issues a few days later. This time, it is so encouraging that weeks after the event, Icelandic people keep asking their elected officials for explanation of why making wrong decision.”

Two representatives of the European Falun Dafa Association paid a visit to the Prime Minister’s office and held a 35-minute talk with the deputy director general of the Prime Minister office. He reassured that no decision made by the Icelandic government was targeting against Falun Gong. He admitted that Falun Gong practitioners were peaceful during their stay in Iceland and said: ”Most of the Falun Gong practitioners were exemplary in their behavior.”

On the same day other practitioners staged an information stand at the centre of the city to mark the three-year day of the persecution and to clarify the truth to the people. Next day, a press conference was held at the Nordic House. Channel 1 TV and channel 2 radio broadcasted the same day. Several newspapers published the day after. All were very positive and gave a lot of attention to the persecution case of Dai Zhizhen as well as harassment made by Chinese officials outside China.

Meetings with members of parliament from both the ruling party and the opposition were very encouraging. They both were very supportive and are urging their government to condemn the human right violations of Falun Gong in China.