(Clearwisdom.net) On March 2 2002, the City of Fontenay-sous-Bois, near Paris, announced its first Falun Dafa Day. One year later, the Mayor, Jean-Francois Voguet, sent a letter to Falun Gong practitioners to declare once again his support for Falun Gong and requesting China to respect human rights.

In the afternoon, around one hundred Falun Dafa practitioners celebrated the 1st anniversary of "Falun Dafa Day" in front of the city hall and demonstrated the exercises. The officials from the city hall and a representative of the French Green Party also joined the celebrations. With elegant traditional Chinese dancing, practitioners held a three-hour celebration parade in the new and old parts of the city.

The content of the support letter from the Mayor of Fontenay-sous-Bois city is as follows:

In today's society, there are many ways of cultivation and sitting meditation, and Falun Dafa is among of them. Currently there are over 100 million people in more than 60 countries practising Falun Gong, especially in China.

Falun Dafa came to the world in the early 1990s, and was accepted and recognised by the Chinese government. However, the Chinese government changed its attitude in 1999. In July 1999, this cultivation practice was banned and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners followed: Arrests, imprisonment, cruel torture, re-education, illegal trials and so on were commonplace.

Over the past few years, Amnesty International and the Falun Dafa Associations have shown concerns about such conduct, which violate basic human rights, freedom of speech and association.

These atrocities have violated the United Nation's human rights convention ratified by China. Furthermore, according to the investigation of Amnesty International, no evidence indicated that those who were charged committed any offence whatsoever.

To stop the persecution, a great number of Parliamentarians have intervened and asked the French government to appeal to the Chinese government to stop the persecution. I will join them and request China to respect human rights.

Mayor,

Jean-Francois Voguet

Article from: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200303/10788.html

Category: Voices of Support Worldwide