Falun Dafa Minghui.org www.minghui.org PRINT

Reports from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania (Photos)

June 18, 2002 |  

(Clearwisdom.net)

1. Complaints against Jiang's demands heard everywhere in the Baltic Sea area.

On June 10, Jiang arrived in Latvia, a small country in the Baltic Sea area. He left Estonia on June 13. Wherever he went, he stayed at the most luxurious hotels and ate at the most expensive restaurants. Afraid to encounter the local people and peaceful protestors, each time when he went out, he had many policemen deployed all along his route and blocked off traffic, which caused a lot of inconvenience for the local people.


2. Falun Dafa practitioners from different countries send forth righteous thoughts together

Over 200 Falun Gong practitioners from Europe, North America and Australia sent forth righteous thoughts at close proximity in hotels and other public places, wherever Jiang went, in order to eliminate the evil elements controlling the head of the evil in the human world.


European Falun Gong practitioners send forth righteous thoughts after the press conference.


Canadian practitioners send forth righteous thoughts in a hotel.

3. Falun Gong practitioners hold press conference to expose the persecution

On June 11, 12, and 14, Falun Gong practitioners held press conferences at Riga, the capital of Latvia, at Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and at Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, respectively. Major local media including over 20 TV stations, radio stations and newspapers sent reporters to attend the press conferences. As a victim of the persecution, while carrying her 2-year-old daughter Ms. Dai Zhizhen told the story of her husband Mr. Chen Chengyong, who was beaten to death by the police simply for appealing for Falun Gong. She also talked about the story of her sister-in-law, who was sentenced to a forced labor camp for refusing to give up her cultivation practice. Dai's father-in-law was not able to endure the emotional anguish and passed away shortly after his son's death.

A German practitioner speaks at the press conference.Ms. Dai Zhizhen from Australia talks about the persecution her family has suffered.
Practitioners demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises in Riga.Reporters from Tallinn listen to the speeches attentively.Practitioners demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises in Vilnius.

On June 14, practitioners from Canada, the United States, Germany, Sweden and Australia practiced the Falun Gong exercises in front of the Lithuania Capitol Building in Vilnius. They unfurled a banner reading "Falun Dafa."

Practitioners clarify the truth about Falun Dafa.

4. Media report extensively on the Falun Gong practitioners' activities, government officials express their support to Falun Gong in private

Almost all of the people we contacted knew about Falun Gong. In addition to pressuring the governments of these countries, the Jiang regime also attempted to rope in the media. One month before Jiang's state visit to these countries, the Chinese government spent a great deal of money to invite some of the people in charge of the major media in these countries and some reporters to visit China. At the press conference in Tallinn, one after another, reporters expressed their concern and awareness of this attempt by the Jiang regime to influence the media. After learning the truth about Falun Dafa, a female reporter asked the practitioners: "What can we do to help?" A photographer from Vilnius said that he couldn't understand why Jiang persecutes Falun Gong, which is so peaceful. He said the over a decade ago, if someone looked very happy on February 28 (the Lithuanian Independence Day), he would be imprisoned. He said that Jiang is acting just like the KGB back then.

Our visa applications to enter Estonia were unreasonably delayed. The consul general told us that the Chinese Embassy in Estonia put pressure on the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They received orders from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from entering Estonia during Jiang's visit. The consul general said that he could not disobey the order, but he and his colleagues supported us. They do not understand why the government would rather invite a tyrant to visit than to allow peaceful people to enter the country.

Due to pressure from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vilnius city government had to cancel the permit of the Falun Gong practitioners' parade. However, they provided us with many valuable suggestions on how to effectively spread Dafa and clarify the truth.

Although Beijing spent a great deal of money attempting to influence the media of these countries, people who found out the truth about Dafa were able to make a clear distinction between right and wrong. TV stations such as Channel 3 gave extensive coverage of Falun Gong activities, lasting as long as 5 minutes, while coverage of Jiang's visit was much shorter.