'History has witnessed many persecutions of righteous beliefs yet none of these suppressions succeeded. The current persecution in China is doomed to meet the same fate. If there is any difference, it may be that the efforts of the practitioners and the world community will make the suppression much shorter-lived.'

The Swedish Embassy in Bangkok has demanded an immediate explanation, yet no accurate or reasonable explanation has been made available. Consul Stellan Berg of the Swedish Embassy waited until 3am in the morning, hoping to get an explanation. She told reporters that she hopes to talk with the Embassy again to get updated information.

The arrest of Swedish Falun Gong practitioner Mrs Pirjo Svensson in Bangkok, headlined Sweden’s mainstream media which emphasised her innocence and the swift response of Thailand’s Swedish Embassy. The following report was translated on May 1st from The Expressen, the biggest evening daily in Sweden.

'A professional artist for many years, Zhang began to suffer from severe arthritis in 1996. Unable to paint and barely able to walk, there appeared to be little conventional doctors could do to help. But then Zhang decided to try using the five basic positions of Falun Gong to ease the pain in her joints. The results exceeded all her expectations and in just five weeks she was cured.'

The article stated that, ‘Besides the information about the persecution, a special flyer has been printed about the lung disease SARS,’ and continues by quoting a Swedish practitioner: “The fact that China kept the spreading of SARS secret from other countries for several months, is another example of how the regime lies to the people of China and the people of the world.”