An experience sharing conference was held in Europe on March 20th, 2000. About 1,000 practitioners attended the conference.á Some of them are from European countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, England, France, Russia, etc.á Others came from Canada, United States, Australia, Taiwan and Japan.á Below are some pictures taken on the first day of the event.

Picture 1: Morning practice in front of the Youth Hostel

Under pressure from the Chinese government, officials hesitatedá to approve the practitioners' application for group practice in front of the United Nations main entrance (Three previous applications had been approved).á Despite the situation, practitioners made full use of the time to do their morning practice in front of the Youth Hostel.á In the meantime, local practitioners wentá to talk with the officials concernedá regarding their application.

Pictures 2 & 3: Group practice in front of the main entrance of the UN.

The police department showed theirá support by approving the application once again, so practitioners moved to the UN main entrance.á The solemn and compassionate scene attracted people passing by and many media reporters.

Picture 4: Falun Gong press conference

In the Journalists' club of the United Nations, practitioners gave a press release to the reporters in the UN on the human rights situation in China.á Four practitioners from the U.S. witnessed serious human rights violation with their own experiences in China; they also called for all the people of goodwill worldwide to extend their support, in order to resolve the current crisis in China.á In order to promote a direct dialogue with the Chinese government, the press conference also invited officials from the Chinese Embassy.á Paying little attention to the order of the convention and turning a deaf ear to the coordination of the Chairman of the Journalists' Club of the UN, these officials disturbed the conference by shouting at peopleá and interfered with the normal interview by the reporters.á Surprised at the poor manners of these diplomats, reporters shook their heads with a sigh.á Some reporters stayed after the conference to do personal interviews with practitioners.á TV stations reported the event positively in the evening.á Local newspapers also reported positively in their front pages.

Pictures 5: The European experience sharing conference

The experience sharing conference lasted for two days, with 25 speakers sharing their experiences with the audience.á Most of the speakers are western practitioners.á The atmosphere was deeply moving with frequent eruptions of applause from the audience.