United Kingdom: Practitioners Call for an End to the Persecution as Hu Jintao Visits England

On Tuesday November 8th, the head of the Chinese Communist Party visited England. Falun Gong practitioners from the UK and Europe appealed near London’s Buckingham Palace to call on him to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. The practitioners held banners worded, "Bring Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang to Justice", "Falun Dafa is Great!", "Hu Jintao, the time that Heaven and the people give to you is limited" and "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong." As Hu’s motorcade passed by, the practitioners also spoke these phrases loudly towards it.

Since 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has waged a brutal and systematic persecution against the 100 million people in China who practise Falun Gong. Over 2,700 innocent practitioners have lost their lives at the hands of the CCP, many of them through torture. Practitioners all over the world have joined practitioners in China for the past five years in peacefully appealing for an end to the persecution and calling for people in China to enjoy the same freedom to practise Falun Gong as people all over the world.

Due to the media attention on this event, lots of journalists were interested in talking to Falun Gong practitioners about why they were appealing to Hu Jintao. One practitioner told Clearharmony: "Falun Gong practitioners' tireless efforts were intended to have Hu Jintao learn the facts about Falun Gong and to help him make a wise choice, stopping the persecution against Falun Gong and choosing a bright future for himself and the Chinese people." Interviews were aired on radio and TV including the BBC’s flagship political programme Newsnight where a practitioner outlined the horrific forms of torture that are used on Falun Gong practitioners.

Throughout the past week, many activities have been held all over London to let people know about the human rights atrocities that the CCP continues to commit against Falun Gong practitioners. These have included anti-torture exhibitions where practitioners have simulated just a few of the many forms of torture that the CCP regularly employs in attempts to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief.

The practitioners will continue their 24 hour appeal at Buckingham Palace until Hu leaves on Thursday morning.