Dialogues in Iceland during July 20 Activities

On 20 July 2002, the third anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong, a group of European practitioners arrived in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland and the destination city of a Nordic SOS tour from Gothenburg, via Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Malmo and Copenhagen.

Meeting with the Icelandic people showed us clearly that they have not forgotten the issue of Falun Gong. It is still a hot topic in the media. As an Icelandic human rights watcher put it: "The Icelandic people tend to forget similar issues a few days later. This time, it is so encouraging that several weeks after the event, the people keep asking their elected officials for explanations of why they made the wrong decision."

Two representatives of the European Falun Dafa Association held a 35-minute talk with the deputy director general of the Prime Minister's office. He reassured them that no decision made by the Icelandic government was targeting Falun Gong and admitted that Falun Gong practitioners were peaceful during their stay in Iceland, saying, "Most Falun Gong practitioners were exemplary in their behavior."

On the same day, other practitioners set up an information stand at the center of the city to mark the anniversary of three-years of persecution and to clarify the truth to the people. The next day, a press conference was held at the Nordic House, which Channel 1 TV and channel 2 radio broadcasted the same day. Several newspapers published stories the next day. All the stories were very positive and gave a lot of attention to the persecution case of Dai Zhizhen's husband, as well as the harassment of practitioners by Chinese officials outside China. (for more information of the murder of Dai Zhizhen's husband, Chen Chenyong, see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/7/24/12496.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/3/19/20024.html )

Meetings with members of parliament from both the ruling party and the opposition were very encouraging. They both were very supportive and are urging their government to condemn the human rights violation of Falun Gong in China. Iceland is moving toward a better future.