(Clearwisdom.net) Residents of Zurich gathered recently in front of a large athletic arena to raise awareness about important human rights violations in China. They called for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing because China has reneged on its promise to improve its human rights record. The Super-Decathlon 2007 was being held in the arena at the time.

The protest was part of the Human Rights Torch Relay that started in Athens on August 9, 2007, focusing attention on human rights violations in China in the months leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After the torch traveled through twenty European cities, it left Europe and is now in Australia. Many politicians, athletes and organizations have supported the torch relay, among them Vaclav Havel and the Vice President of the European Parliament, Edward McMillan-Scott.

Organizers stressed that the human rights situation in China has deteriorated, although China promised in 2001 when it was awarded the Olympics that it would improve its human rights record. In fact, the pressure on Christians, Tibetans, Uighurs, Chinese dissidents and democracy advocates has increased. The situation of Falun Gong practitioners has also deteriorated. The UN's annual report on torture 2007 has shown that sixty six percent of all the torture victims in China are Falun Gong practitioners.

The plight of Beijing attorney and human rights activist Gao Zhisheng was prominently featured by the Swiss human rights organization ACAT (Christian Action to Abolish Torture).

Thousands of visitors from the Super Decathlon came by to visit the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) booth. Many of them were happy to accept fliers with more information. A narrator was using a public address system to inform the public about human rights in China and why the CIPFG supports a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics unless China improves its human rights.

CIPFG, The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China, is an international human rights organization with a growing membership of 350 politicians, doctors, journalists, former Olympic athletes and human rights activist from several continents. The goal of the coalition is to unite all interested parties to conduct a thorough and independent investigation, to uncover the truth about the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong, in particular the harvesting of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners, in secret concentration camps, prisons, labor camps, detention centers, brainwashing centers, psychiatric hospitals, hospitals and all other relevant facilities. The evidence will be collected both inside and outside mainland China for the purpose of ending this brutal persecution of millions of innocent people that has already lasted for seven years.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200711/42121.html