Bulgarian Practitioners Commemorate the 27th Anniversary of the April 25 Appeal

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May 5, 2026 | By a Minghui correspondent in Sofia, Bulgaria

(Minghui.org) An event commemorating the 27th anniversary of the April 25 appeal in Beijing was held in front of the Chinese Embassy compound in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on April 23, 2026. Practitioners of Falun Dafa from across the country participated.

Practitioners set up banners along the sidewalk in front of the embassy, bearing words in Chinese, English, and Bulgarian: “The world needs Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” “Falun Dafa is good,” “Stop the forced organ harvesting from living people,” and “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.”

Bulgarian Falun Gong practitioners participating in the event.

On April 25, 1999, an event took place that still carries meaning today: more than 10,000 practitioners of the spiritual practice Falun Gong gathered peacefully in Beijing. Their request was simple—the right to live according to their beliefs without fear of state oppression.

Since that date, practitioners around the world have held similar protests to honor the resilience and kindness that the Chinese practitioners showed that day, when they stood quietly and patiently as they waited for the Chinese government to address their grievances.

Dozens of people riding the trams, whose route in both directions ran along the same boulevard where the Chinese embassy is located, stared at the Bulgarian practitioners and their banners. People who were intrigued and traveling in their private cars slowed down to read the information on the banners.

Cindy was one of the passersby that day. She approached practitioners and asked what was going on. She said she lives in Vietnam and had never heard of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The practitioners handed her leaflets and told her about the peaceful appeal of April 25, 1999.

Cindy, a passerby, approached Falun Gong practitioners to learn more about their event.

The police officers on duty, who were ensuring that the event proceeded lawfully, were given a new opportunity to learn about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong.

Bulgarian Falun Gong practitioners did the exercises outside the Chinese Embassy.

For years, the CCP has portrayed the appeal of April 25, 1999, as a “siege” of its headquarters, suggesting that it was an aggressive challenge to state authority and a threat to security. However, a report by Freedom House and legal documents paint a very different picture. They show that the appeal was peaceful, well-organized, and exceptionally disciplined: those gathered did not chant, did not carry posters, did not engage in violence, and did not obstruct traffic. According to eyewitness accounts from that day, after the rally ended, they even cleaned the area of cigarette butts that the police had discarded.