Portugal: Practitioners Protest in front of Chinese Consulate on July 20

(Minghui.org) Portuguese Falun Gong practitioners gathered at the Chinese Consulate in Lisbon on July 20, 2023 to peacefully protest the ongoing persecution against Falun Gong, launched 24 years ago in China. Practitioners set up posters exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brutal persecution, and distributed fliers to passersby and motorists.

Portuguese Falun Gong practitioners protest outside the Chinese Consulate in Lisbon on July 20, 2023, calling for an end to the 24-year-long persecution.

Many people had already learned about the CCP’s continuous persecution of Falun Gong. Many signed a petition condemning the CCP’s atrocities, and a number of people expressed their belief in the principles of Falun Gong – Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.

José Sánchez, a tourist from Spain, signed the petition calling for an end of the persecution.

José Sánchez, a tourist from Spain, passed by the practitioners’ protest. He already knew about the mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese regime, and immediately signed a petition to support practitioners in their effort to end the persecution. 

An elderly couple also signed the petition. They said that they didn’t like what the CCP was doing, and they truly appreciated Falun Gong’s message.

A local resident talked to a practitioner and signed a petition.

A local resident who signed the petition said she hoped that the persecution would be resolved as soon as possible.

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 24 years, though due to the difficulty in getting information out of China, 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.