Sweden: Peaceful Demonstration of Falun Gong Exercises is a Powerful Protest against the Persecution

On June 9th 2007 the head of the Chinese Communist regime visited Sweden and attended a ceremony marking the famous ancient sailing boat Gothenburg’s return to its home port in Gothenburg. To raise the awareness of the brutal persecution of Falun Gong so as to put an end to this atrocity, Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Gustaf Adolfs Square to demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises and distribute flyers. The activity attracted a lot of people’s attention and many came forward to express their support for Falun Gong after learning the facts.

When Falun Gong practitioners were demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises under the hot sun, many people came over to watch. Upon hearing the peaceful music come to an end a man exclaimed loudly, “You had better drink some water and take a rest, but please keep playing the music. I’ve been to many places around the world and have seen many magnificent things, but you are the most magnificent one.”

Prior to attending the ceremony marking the Gothenburg’s returning to its home port, Ms. Barbro quietly watched the practitioners demonstrating the exercises for quite a while. After the ceremony ended, she exclusively returned and told the practitioners ,“Your peaceful demonstration of the exercises is a powerful protest against the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocious crimes.”

Apart from having picture taken with the peaceful demonstration of the exercises, many also took pictures of the scene one after another.

Prior to the visit of the Chinese head to Sweden, many people from various circles, through some major media, called on the Swedish government to directly bring up the issue regarding China’s human right situation face to face with Hu Jintao. The Swedish Foreign Minister, members of parliament, mainstream mass media, human right organisations and other organisations representing those persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime also openly criticized China’s human right situation.

On June 7th, 2007, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told the Swedish TT News agency: “I plan to raise human rights issues with Hu. As Swedish people are very concerned about this issue, we should get this message across to them. I discussed capital punishment issues with them from time to time, and it will be included in the agenda of the talks during their visit.”

Swedish members of parliament called on the Swedish government to condemn China’s human rights record one after another. When attending the rally supporting the human rights in China on June 7th, 2007, Ms. Cecilia Wigstrom stated, “In China, the act of harvesting organs from human bodies is against modern civilisation and the Internet censorship system has limited people’s freedom of thought. While the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution against Falun Gong and other civic organisations is still going on, it also intimidates Taiwan with guided missiles. The Swedish government should help the Chinese people get rid of Internet censorship, so as to enjoy the right to freedom of thought.” Her comments were echoed by many other members of parliament.

Thirteen members of the Swedish Academy sent a joint statement to Hu Jintao, saying: “Many Chinese citizens have suffered various kinds of persecution, which is inconsistent with your saying that society is stable. We are concerned about the Chinese people’s legal rights and human rights, in particular the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of belief and freedom of information. We call on president Hu to live up to his responsibility and put an end to the persecution as well as stop arresting political dissidents.”

On behalf of the Falun Gong practitioners in China that is the hardest-hit group in China, Swedish Falun Gong Association submitted a petition to the Swedish Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs respectively. The petition stated “Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are missing. To date, it is confirmed that 3024 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death and the actual number of death cases is much higher. Among others, the harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners is indicative of the Chinese Communist regime’s intrinsic evil nature". The representative from the Swedish Falun Gong Association urged the Swedish government to take this opportunity to condemn the Chinese Communist regime’s trampling on the Chinese people’s human rights.