(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held activities at Place de l’Opéra to raise awareness of the ongoing persecution in China on September 16, 2022. They demonstrated the exercises and collected signatures on a petition to end the persecution.

Place de l’Opéra is located in the Paris’s city center and endless streams of people pass by. Many were attracted by how peaceful and calm practitioners looked as they practiced the exercises despite the crowds and the noise. Some talked with practitioners and asked where they could learn the exercises. People were shocked upon learning the extent of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brutal persecution and forced live organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners. They expressed their support by signing the petition calling for an end to the atrocities. 

Practitioners hold truth-clarification activities at Place de l’Opéra in Paris on September 16, 2022.

Practitioners introduce Falun Dafa and tell people about the persecution.

Passersby sign the petition to condemn the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Viva told practitioners, “I support Falun Dafa practitioners’ activities. I support freedom and peace.”

Viva, an actress, said, “I am French and live in a country with freedom and human rights. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live in a country with no freedom of speech. Everyone should have basic human rights and that should be respected. Everyone should also have freedom of speech, thought and the right to choose for oneself. China is not like this. I have seen reports of Chinese citizens being monitored by face-identification cameras. This worries me.”

She said, “The persecution of the Jews during World War II should be a lesson to us all. However, history has repeated itself once again. Falun Dafa practitioners, Uyghurs and Tibetans are all being persecuted. I am very shocked. China is the world’s most populous country. When the head of such a country and regime is not acting in his right mind, it will cause a great loss. The persecution is evil.”

Lastly Viva said, “I support Falun Dafa. I support freedom and peace.”

Bertrand Sauvage is a consultant. After signing the petition, he said, “This persecution is inhumane. We cannot let something like this happen in the 21^st Century. People are suffering. Though practitioners being persecuted are far away from France, we still need to take action to resist these atrocities. The CCP is committing a crime by persecuting practitioners. 

A French man who studies geopolitics was scheduled to travel to China the next day. He was very interested in learning more, as he had never heard about Falun Dafa. Before leaving, he took some informational materials. 

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.