(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners received support from many Hungarians during events held on April 25 and April 29, 2023 to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the April 25 Appeal.

Practitioners held a peaceful protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Budapest, and an event in Veszprém to tell people in Hungary the story of Falun Dafa’s persecution and the April 25 Appeal. Twenty-four years ago, Dafa practitioners were unjustly arrested in Tianjin when they gathered outside a magazine office to discuss errors in a recently-published article attacking Falun Dafa. On April 25, 1999, about 10,000 practitioners gathered near the State Council Appeals Office in Beijing to peacefully request that the detained practitioners be released. They also asked that the ban on publishing the book Falun Gong be lifted, and that their right to peacefully practice their belief be honored. The detained practitioners were released later that day.

Although this incident was considered the largest and most peaceful event ever for Chinese citizens to defend their legal rights, the then Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin announced that he would, “Eradicate Falun Dafa in three months.” Two months later, in June, he established the 610 Office, an extrajudicial agency whith the sole purpose to eradicate Falun Dafa, and the nationwide suppression was launched in full force in July 1999.

Peaceful Protest in Front of the Chinese Embassy

Practitioners in Budapest held a peaceful demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the April 25 Appeal. They displayed banners calling for an end to the persecution, and told people about the brutal, ongoing suppression of Falun Dafa in China. 

During the event, the practitioners demonstrated the exercises, which cannot be publicly practiced in China at this time.

Practitioners peacefully demonstrated near the Chinese Embassy in Budapest on April 25, 2023.

Practitioners Hold Awareness-Raising Activities in Veszprém

On April 29, practitioners held an information day in Veszprém to tell people about the ongoing persecution in China and to commemorate the anniversary of the April 25 Appeal.

The city of Veszprém, along with Elefsina in Greece and Timisoara in Romania, was awarded the title, “European Capital of Culture” in 2023. These cities were selected from more than 60 cities, both inside and outside the European Union, to be honored with this title. 

Practitioners set up two information desks next to the Market and Fair Hall in Veszprém, where visitors could sign a petition titled, “Petition for the Protection of the Human Rights of Falun Dafa Practitioners.” This petition, put together by the Hungarian Falun Dafa Association, urged the Hungarian government and president to condemn the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. 

Practitioners told passersby about the current persecution in China today through leaflets and information posters.

Falun Dafa practitioners displayed information about the persecution and CCP’s forced organ harvesting from Dafa practitioners in ChinaPractitioners demonstrate the exercises at an awareness-raising event in Hungary.

The Persecution Is Terrible

Many people stopped to talk with practitioners and thanked them for providing information about Falun Dafa and the persecution.

A group of elderly ladies were stunned after hearing a practitioner’s explanation. “Is this really happening in China now, in the 21st century? And [people] don’t even know about it?” one of them asked. 

Another sighed as she signed the petition, “My God, it’s terrible what they’re doing!”

Mária and Enikő, a mother and her 15-year-old daughter from Balatonalmádi, listened attentively to the information about the persecution.

After the mother signed the petition, her daughter asked, “Mama, can I sign it too? I would like to sign it too.”

Her mother agreed with a smile, and they even supported the event with a photo together.

Mária and Enikő, mother and daughter, with one of the organizers of the awareness-raising event, Istvan Kende Piszker (left)

Supportive Students

After reading the information on the leaflet, four students from Veszprém went straight to the desk to sign the petition. One said, “Come on, let’s sign it!” 

One by one, all four signed the petition. The students were delighted to receive the little lotus flowers which had Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance—a symbol of well wishes, that practitioners gave them. 

Four students from Veszprém sign the petition.

A middle-aged man said that he had been to China twice but had never heard of Falun Dafa. When he learned that the CCP banned the practice in China, he was surprised. 

“Really, the CCP banned the practice there? Well, it looks like we’ll have to stay away from China,” he said. He wished practitioners good luck in their efforts to end the persecution.

An elderly gentleman came from a nearby market to the information desk. He told practitioners that he'd heard about Falun Dafa. He wished them success and asked if there were any practitioners in Veszprém, because he wanted to learn Falun Dafa.

Passersby support Falun Dafa practitioners and sign the petition.

After a couple signed the petition, the man said, “There should be people everywhere who support such things.” He pointed to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—the principles of Falun Dafa—on a leaflet. “Yes, in fact that’s exactly why we signed the petition.”

Duc Thuan Nguyen, one of the main organizers of the event, said that the event in Veszprém is part of a series, with the first stop in Székesfehérvár on March 25. They will hold events in county capitals and larger rural towns so that the whole of Hungary can learn about the benefits of Falun Dafa and the persecution in China. 

István Kende Piszker, another event organizer, was delighted by one elderly gentleman’s curiosity about Falun Dafa. 

“An elderly gentleman called me back after the event to ask me to put together printed materials about Falun Dafa for him, because he doesn’t have the Internet or a computer, but he definitely wants to get to know the practice,” he said.