Issued by Clearwisdom Net

 From December 28th 2005, German Falun Gong practitioners spent their New Year holiday at the annual four day gathering in Erbach. They had group study and exercises; and held the 2005 Experience Sharing Conference.

Study groups	Group Practice

Experience sharing conference

The annual Experience Sharing Conference for German speaking Falun Gong practitioners was held in the afternoon of December 30th. Nearly two hundred practitioners attended the conference.

Sharing conference	Sharing conference

One practitioner's mother was once detained in a labor camp and German practitioners were widely petitioning to rescue her. She was sitting in front of all practitioners, telling them how she overcame the attachment of fear and came out to expose the truth, as well as how she and other practitioners were being persecuted in China's labor camps. Practitioners were shocked and touched by her speech and many were in tears. Another female practitioner who is sixty seven years old also shared her experience. She told practitioners how she was persecuted to become destitute and homeless in China. After she came to Germany, she cried when she went to appeal in front of the Chinese Embassy for the first time. Because of the persecution situation in China, she had not been able to do the exercises publicly and explain the facts to the Chinese people.

Besides talking about the situation in China, another five practitioners shared how they practiced Falun Gong under the relatively loose environment abroad. Some of them are veteran practitioners, and others are new practitioners who became practitioners after July 20th, 1999.

After the conference, practitioners were still discussing their feelings. Some said that they found out their shortcomings from others' speeches; some said that they became clearer on problems they could not understand for a long time. For them, this conference was really a place to 'compare while studying, to compare while practicing.'

The New Year's performance

To celebrate the New Year, practitioners performed an entertainment program, including singing, playing musical instruments, acting, etc. There was one practitioner who learnt how to play dulcimer when she was very young. She hadn't touched it for more than thirty years. However, she picked it up again for this special occasion. Even though she only practiced it for very short time, her performance was superb. When she played the recorded tape to her father, he just could not believe his ears.

Many new practitioners of Falun Gong

Quite a lot of practitioners who came to join the group study were new practitioners and a large proportion of them were westerners. Many of them started to learn about Falun Gong through various activities held by practitioners in different places. From the beginning point of simply hearing about the persecution, to reading Falun Gong's main text Zhuan Falun, they began to practice Falun Gong.

Just over one year ago, practitioners Stephen from Cologne and Wu Wei from Hamburg went to visit the Cologne Cathedral. There, for the first time they saw practitioners distributing leaflets. They were deeply attracted to Falun Gong. They went back to their own cities and started to search the exercise venues locally. It was to be regretted that when Stephen first went to the Cologne exercise venue, there were some spies from China who took pictures. He felt very uncomfortable and started to do the exercises at home on his own. But he did not read Zhuan Falun and thus wasted five months' time. But he finally joined other practitioners. Wu Wei was luckier. Since back home, he started practicing Falun Gong soon afterwards. He wanted to give his New Year greetings to the Chinese people, he hoped that they would stop being deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s poison; they could accept other alternatives, clearly recognize the evil of the CCP and then have a better future for themselves.

Ulla was only fourteen when he first met Falun Gong practitioners in front of Cologne Cathedral. At that time, he just came to Germany from Russia and he could not speak German very well. What a coincidence was that there was one practitioner who was from Russia. They kept in touch since then. Now, Ulla is seventeen and very happy that he can practice Falun Gong. He always carries a lot of materials to distribute to Chinese people. He expressed his willingness to do more and better in the future. He hoped that the Chinese people could get rid of the Communist Party soon, as Russia has.

 On January 6, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners in Thailand went to the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok to denounce the Chinese Communist regime for the pressure it brought to bear on the Thai government that led Thai police to arrest five refugee Falun Gong practitioners on Thai soil last December 15. Practitioners have protested at the Embassy one to two times per week since the arrests.

Thailand Falun Gong practitioners protest in front of Chinese embassy

Reporters take photos

The protest attracted the attention of several media in Bangkok.

When practitioners arrived, there were approximately ten reporters and photographers already there waiting. As soon as the practitioners unfurled their banner, the reporters excitedly approached and proceeded to take many photos and conduct interviews for almost an hour. The Associated Press and The Epoch Times were there, as well as several Thai media including Matichon, Post Today, Bangkok Today, as well as the English-language Bangkok Post and The Nation.

Also waiting for practitioners were several police officers. As soon as the protest began, many more police arrived, until there were about 30 officers. Many different police departments were present, as well as a representative from the Prime Minister's office. Practitioners made sure to take the opportunity to clarify the facts in-depth to the officials and passers-by.

The detained practitioners are appealing the arrests and the cancellation of their visas. Both actions are against the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Thailand has signed, not to mention articles 38 and 44 of the Thai constitution.

Thailand practitioners sincerely urge the Thai government to quickly come to its senses, immediately release detained Falun Gong practitioners and not to associate wth the evil CCP, and ruin the future of the country and the people.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/1/9/118325.html