(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held activities on December 7, 2022 to mark International Human Rights Day, which falls each year on December 10.

La Défense is an important business district in the greater Paris region. It has the largest office complex in Europe and is the second largest financial center in Europe after London. 

Despite the cold winter weather, the streets were still crowded. The practitioners’ information booth was located near the Christmas market. It was visible to people exiting the markets and train stations and also to people entering office buildings. 

Many people said this was the first time they heard about Falun Dafa and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution. Most said they were shocked when they learned how brutal the persecution is. They signed the petition to help end the persecution after receiving truth-clarification flyers. Passersby thanked practitioners for telling them about Falun Dafa and encouraged them to persist in with the hopes that the persecution will soon end. 

Practitioners held an event on December 7, 2022 to tell people about Falun Dafa and collect signatures on a petition to help end the persecution. 

A lady learns about Falun Dafa and how it is persecuted. 

Many people signed the petition to help end the persecution.

Jean, an IT consultant, said he knew about the CCP’s ongoing 23 year-long persecution of Falun Dafa. He said, “China is a big country. I am extremely worried for Chinese people. I know the situation Chinese people are in now and how they are constantly being monitored. China is under a tyrannical dictatorship. Truth and history are completely and always being manipulated.” The Chinese people are under extreme control. However, “the good news is that Chinese people will be able to get rid of this criminal regime!”

Retired secretary Poli said she could not understand why the CCP launched the persecution. She said, “Practicing Falun Dafa benefits one’s mind and body. Practitioners do not participate in politics for they only wish to cultivate. It seems the CCP feels threatened because so many people practice Falun Dafa.” Poli said that the persecution is brutal and unimaginable.

Yulia from Russia works in the financial field. She said she personally experienced what it means to live under communism and said, “The Chinese and Russians live very difficult lives. Freedom is slowly stripped away from them and it is very hard for them.”

Practitioners also held truth-clarification activities and petitioned for signatures in La Défense three weeks ago on November 16, 2022. 

Practitioners held truth-clarification activities in La Défense on November 16, 2022. 

Jérémy Thiry-Cesaire, who manages cultural artifacts, said that he’s heard about Falun Dafa, “Forced live organ harvesting is an act of genocide! This is against humanity. Something like this should not happen in the world that we are living in.” He hopes to help practitioners end the CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa.

Jérémy said, “The principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance signify wisdom and purity. It makes one want to do better. One will be tolerant of the past and look forward and do better in the future. People should do the best for themselves and for the world.”

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.