On June 15, Dafa practitioners had a parade in Gothenburg City. Several male practitioners in dark color suites led the parade team with many female practitioners dressed in white. The female practitioners held pictures of practitioners who had died from the persecution in China. Other disciples, wearing various Falun Dafa yellow clothes, followed with different banners and boards that had the names of the countries of the participants. The whole group walked slowly, with solemnity and harmony.
The parade ended at the G taplatsen Square at the city center; it is a highly regarded location. When the King and Prime Minister came to Gothenburg, they also spoke to the public at this Square. There, Falun Gong Practitioners had a press conference. At the conference, the SOS project was introduced for the first time. We called for support from the European Union, European people and all kindhearted people in the world to help and urge China to stop killing Falun Gong practitioners and release all Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Harald Nordlund, Member of Parliament of Sweden, and Madam Cecilia Malmstrom, Member of EU Parliament, came to give speeches at the conference. Many practitioners were brought to tears by these speeches. One of them said, "Although I don't understand English, I was crying when listening to Cecilia's speech. She was talking from her heart; I was listening with my heart." On June 15, three riots occurred in the city of Gothenberg. However, the Falun Gong parade and press conference brought Zhen-Shan-Ren and smiles to the city.
At night, practitioners studied Master's latest article and exchanged experiences. A practitioner from Hong Kong shared with everyone the current situation of Dafa in Hong Kong. Then everyone sent forth righteous thoughts together to support practitioners in Hong Kong.
Practitioners in Sweden would like to share the following with everyone:
Policemen in Gothenburg are very friendly to Dafa practitioners. One policeman commented "good music, very relaxing." Some policemen had just dealt with riots and were very tired and disturbed. When one of them saw our parade, he said, "We are friends of Falun Dafa. To see your parade has strengthened hope to our work." Another policeman said, "When I came to your parade, I felt strengthened and relieved." Some said, "I don't know why. But just to be with you feels so nice!" A policeman told us, "We have granted the best public gathering places to Falun Gong." At the end of the parade, when we arrived at the G taplatsen Square, the policeman who had been taking care of our parade said, "Now I can go and have dinner. Just call me if anything happens." Policemen trusted us very much.
Local people were also very supportive. One Swedish lady had a store at the city center. When she saw the exercise pictures, she almost cried. She said she would try to attend our activities. In the afternoon of June 15, she closed her store and came to G taplatsen Square to attend our press conference. Although the traffic was completely down due to riots and demonstrations, and riding a bicycle was unusually inconvenient, she made it to the press conference. In addition to the group exercise sites which we had permits from the police, practitioners also went to other locations in the city in a group of 3 or 4 people to show our exercises and to spread the Fa. Upon seeing this, local residents said to practitioners "very beautiful." One Swede mentioned that when she opened the window, she saw practitioners showing the exercises outside. She thought the whole scene was so beautiful. After dinner, several practitioners bumped into a local Chinese. After hearing our explanations about Falun Gong, he said, "I exercise everyday. I have good health. But I may become even better after practicing Falun Gong." He said he would like to try the exercises someday.
Madam Cecilia Malmstrom joined our press conference at the last minute. She gave an improvised speech, while panting. Afterwards, she explained that she planned to come by taxi. However, no taxi was available. She had to run all the way to G taplatsen Square. Just when she almost lost hope in getting there in time, she saw Dafa practitioners. She immediately felt full of strength and arrived at the conference at the last minute. She also said, "why cannot other demonstrators be like you?" A local politician also mentioned, "It is so nice to have Falun Gong practitioners here, especially after this morning['s riots]. You have helped with Gothenburg's reputation. You proved that we could have peaceful appeals. You should come here every week!"
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| Suncircle: the sun we saw after morning exercise on June 15 | Gotaplasten: the press conference | Cecelia: Member of EU parliament gave a speech at the press conference |
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Category: News & Events
