2002/6/24 Monday
(Yuanming Net) On June 11, thirty-eight practitioners from Taiwan flew to the Danish Capital, Copenhagen, from Moscow. We met up with eight other Taiwanese practitioners and we intended to transit to Iceland from there. However, at the Copenhagen Airport the Danish Police tried to prevent us from boarding the plane, holding an official document from the Iceland Government. We were informed that we might be detained at the Iceland airport or deported. We made our righteous thoughts steady and boarded the airplane as originally planned. We were to arrive in the Iceland capital Reykjavik at 1:30 pm. We got off the plane and before we went upstairs to customs, we saw the police looking at us suspiciously and conversing quietly over their mobile phones. We felt an unusual atmosphere around us. As expected, at the checkpoint for passports, the custom officers one by one checked our passports against a list. We were taken aside and all of us (46 people) were gathered outside the police office next to the Arrival Hall, encircled by protective rails. We were refused entry to the country. By now, the police had taken away all our passports and they were questioning us individually. When it was my turn, I reminded myself to clarify the truth to the police and I also expressed strongly my wish to enter the country to peacefully appeal to Jiang. The practitioners yet to be questioned utilized the opportunity to negotiate with the police with benevolent hearts, giving them VCDs, showing them pictures and truth clarifying materials. We clarified the truth of Falun Gong to them.
Apart from studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts, we also performed the exercises for the travelers passing through customs, showing them the peacefulness and beauty of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The Police used both hard and soft tactics, asking all the practitioners to give them their plane tickets. They even threatened to deport the practitioners who had already given them the tickets. We were at a stalemate for a few hours. Before long, the Police claimed that the practitioners would be sent to a school nearby (there were already more than twenty practitioners from North America detained there from that morning.) However, we insisted on waiting for the arrival of a solicitor. The solicitor arrived at about five o'clock and he said that he had already sent an urgent letter to the Minister for Justice sometime after three o'clock, requesting permission for us to enter the country. He also suggested that practitioners communicate with the Taiwanese authorities for foreign affairs and request their assistance. A few hours later, the Department for Foreign Affairs rang us and expressed their concern. Among those detained, eight of the practitioners were released at nine o'clock. About ten o'clock in the evening, the police prepared food and drinks for us and arranged a large room downstairs for us to rest. We were told that we could go up to the Arrival Hall again the next morning to wait for the outcome.
At 1:30 am in the morning of June 12, the rest of us (38 practitioners) were released. We were detained in the Arrival Hall of the airport for a total of 12 hours. Later we learned that on the night of June 11, a local journalist interviewed and reported on the behavior of the Icelandic Government. Knowing this, the officials of the Canadian and the US consulates, together with the solicitor and more than three hundred local residents went voluntarily to the school where the North American practitioners were detained. They protested against the Icelandic Government for succumbing to the pressure of the Chinese Government, and for ignoring human rights and denying the entry of Falun Gong practitioners into Iceland. The kind-hearted and peaceful actions of the Icelandic people as they upheld justice, laid a good foundation for them to obtain the Fa in the future. At this time, the head of the evil had not arrived in Iceland yet. We went to the center of the city and there we did the exercises and Hong Fa in front of the Parliament House. Because there was a lot of traffic at this spot, we attracted many people and many cars stopped to look at us. I took this opportunity to hand out pamphlets, books and materials to inform people of the brutal persecution. They were well accepted and most of the people said "thank you" to me politely. At night, practitioners studied the Fa and shared experiences together, as well as discussing about activities planned for the next three days ( 13th, 14th and 15th .)
For the entire next day (13th), we were in front of the Congress practicing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts. In the afternoon a press conference was held there. The large pictures of the persecution attracted everyone's attention.
On the 14th about three thousand Icelandic people held a spontaneous parade. They sealed their mouths with strips of black cloth, symbolically protesting against their government's denial of entry for overseas Falun Gong practitioners and the restriction of their freedom of speech. The local people also carried banners of 'Falun Dafa', and 'Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance' in support of Falun Gong, and protested against the government's ignoring of human rights. They went to the Chinese Embassy to submit a petition letter and came back to our group practice site- the Parliament Square, which was next to the Congress. The government's refusal to allow practitioners into the country caused a sensation. The largest newspaper in Iceland published a four-page ad. Over four hundred and fifty notable people including congressmen and other celebrities jointly initiated this ad. The content of the ad included three large Chinese characters: 'We Apologize', and the English title was ' We Apologize to Falun Gong Practitioners' also in large type. The righteous and kind-hearted support from the Icelandic people destroyed the evil lies.
At six in the evening we went to a restaurant where the dictator was expected, to send forth righteous thoughts. The police blocked the entrance to the restaurant and isolated us across the road so we were at a distance from the entrance. Using wisdom we selected an open space at a higher elevation and sat there sending forth righteous thoughts and displaying banners. We were actually more noticeable this way. After a while, some Icelandic people who came from the square arrived one after another. They still wore the same clothes: some were wearing yellow Falun Dafa T-shirts; most of them were holding English banners of 'Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance'. They stood facing the driveway. Many local people honked their horns to show their support when they drove by. Around seven o'clock, the head evil's motorcade guided by motorcycles drove by towards the restaurant. At this time the police allowed the people to move towards to the driveway that was near the entrance. Many Icelandic people climbed the hill behind the restaurant up to the entrance. About nine o'clock it seemed that the dinner had ended. We could see dimly that people were taking photos inside the restaurant. The dictator was coming out soon. More and more local people gathered outside the entrance to the restaurant. They started to shout 'Falun Dafa is good' and other sentences in Chinese. A few practitioners quickly sent forth righteous thoughts. Jiang's motorcade drove away in front of the crowd. We took the opportunity to send forth righteous thoughts and let the head evil see the banners of 'Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance' and 'Falun Dafa is good', making the evil know that coercion cannot change people's hearts and Falun Gong will never be eliminated. During two hours of sending forth righteous thoughts, it became dark and the wind was chilling. A longing for comfort grew inside of me and I wanted to go back early. But then I thought that the chance would never come again if it was missed. Moreover, there were so many fellow practitioners who were suffering torture and hardship in Mainland China. They had to endure more if the evil was not completely eliminated. What I was suffering was nothing!
Sunday, June 15, was the last day that we practiced on the square with a permit from the government. All the practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts for fifteen minutes every half an hour. I took this opportunity to distribute flyers and answered questions from the local people about Falun Gong. In the evening the practitioners from different countries studied the Fa together (Essentials for Further Advancement II and Touring North America to Teach the Fa) and sent forth righteous thoughts simultaneously with all practitioners worldwide. We encouraged each other and seized this opportunity to send forth righteous thoughts for twenty-four hours on the night before the evil Jiang left. Many practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts every hour and studied the Fa till seven o'clock the next morning.
In the following two days, we stayed in Iceland to wait for our flight. In the spare time, I took a 'one day tour'. On the tour, I introduced Falun Dafa to more than ten tourists (they were from Canada, UK, Denmark, Norway, Finland and other countries) who were on the same bus as me. I presented them with brochures and VCDs clarifying the true facts of Falun Gong.
I have gained a lot from this trip. I found many of my attachments that had been hidden deeply. Also I have realized two points: first, whether one has a sound understanding of the Fa is reflected in whether one can 'check oneself, look inward, and cultivate oneself.' Secondly, it is still quite hard for me to be completely calm and to enter tranquility when sending forth righteous thoughts.
In the future I should attach great importance to sending forth righteous thoughts. I should continuously purify myself so as to fulfill the holy mission of assisting Master to rectify the Fa.
Category: April 25 Events
