(Clearwisdom.net) Beautiful music, slow gentle movements; in lively Clara Square in Basel, Switzerland, a group of people are exercising quietly as music plays. There are people from all walks of life; from various ethnic backgrounds. They are demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises. Not far away, another group of practitioners is putting on a re-enactment of torture and organ harvesting atrocities that the CCP subjects Falun Gong practitioners in China to.
Group exercise
Group exercise
Re-enacting the tortures
Re-enacting organ harvesting atrocities
The contrast between the peacefulness of the exercises and the horrors of the persecution is stark and vivid. Passers by stop in their footsteps and listen quietly to explanations, looking at pictures and surrounding banners.
This demonstration is not the first for these practitioners. For nine years, Falun Gong practitioners around the world utilize all sorts of opportunities to tell people the truth about the practice and the persecution. After this day's events, several practitioners shared their thoughts.
Falun Gong helped me become a better person
Rudi is a computer consultant, working at a bank in Switzerland. His wife is eight months pregnant. They both took part in the day's activities. He began practicing Falun Gong in 1998. Not long after, the persecution began in China. He never thought of stopping to practice. He recognized the CCP's lies: "When I encountered Falun Gong, I found what I had been looking for all my life. The ways I bear myself are beginning to change in all aspects. I live in accordance with Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance.
"Since I found what I had been looking for over the years, how could I give it up simply because of what other persons said.
In the past nine years, Rudi has taken part in many activities to stop the persecution. He also set up a regular group practice site in his own city -- Germany's Darmstadt.
He will continue to strive to stop the persecution because: "If we do not stop the persecution now; leave the crimes of live organ extraction, all kinds of torture there, and then one day we will not have the ability to stop it, then, what will that society be like?"
I will continue efforts to end the persecution until its over
Mirijam learned Falun Gong in China. After practicing Falun Gong, she felt a strong sense of energy, completely different from previous exercises she had done. But shortly after she began practicing Falun Gong, the persecution began. "I had benefited greatly from practicing Falun Gong. [...] So when I heard the news of persecution, I immediately wrote a letter to the (CCP) embassy and told them they made a mistake. From that day on, I have continually done things to stop the persecution."
She said: "If I am in China, I might have been tortured to death. My organs might be picked off, and someone else would carry my organs to walk in the streets while I was put to death. As long as such a thing is still happening, I can not remain silent. I will continue my efforts until the persecution ends."
Every Falun Gong practitioner is dedicated to doing what they can to help end the persecution. They will never give up.