Prague Daily Monitor: Falun Gong followers start protest in Prague

Prague, July 20 (CTK) - Some 20 Czech and foreign followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement met outside the Chinese Embassy in Prague Thursday to protest the prosecution of the movement in China.

he protest meeting was held on the same day when the China outlawed Falun Gong meditative exercises seven years ago. The protest will continue outside the Chinese embassy until 11:00 on Friday.

The participants first read a letter pointing to the violation of human rights in China, which they then unsuccessfully attempted to hand over to the Chinese authorities.

Thursday evening, Falun Gong supporters lit candles in memory of the victims of the Chinese regime.

The protesters also performed a simulated operation in order to highlight the alleged practice in Chinese prisons where doctors take organs for transplants from prisoners and sell them. Hospitals falling under the Chinese public security office and military police allegedly participate in this practice.

We want to call on the parliament to adapt a resolution in support of the investigation into the crimes in committed Chinese concentration camps," Jakub Smid from the Falun Gong Czech association told reporters.

He noted that the ban on the movement had afflicted a major part of the Chinese society.

"Over 70 million people practising Falun Gong, their relatives and friends, have to bear the consequences of the nonsensical decision of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. Hundreds of people have been imprisoned or sent to concentration camps without a court verdict," Czech supporters wrote in their letter.

The meditative movement has some 100 million followers in 80 countries, including hundreds in the Czech Republic, Smid said.