(Minghui.org) Helsinki celebrated its 65^th birthday on June 12, 2024. It was a bright, sunny day and people gathered at Esplanadin Puisto Park in downtown Helsinki to celebrate the occasion. Local practitioners took the opportunity to introduce the benefits of Falun Dafa to Finnish residents.

Wearing yellow T-shirts with the words “Falun Dafa Is Good”, they demonstrated the five sets of exercises and handed out information. Some passersby gave them a thumbs up and others signed the petition calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Dafa in China.

Display boards with information on the spread of Falun Dafa from 1992 to 1999 in China as well as awards received from the Chinese government were placed on the side of the road. In July 20, 1999, former president Jiang Zemin started a brutal campaign to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners.

Passersby spoke to practitioners at Esplanadin Puisto Park on June 12, 2024, to find out more information on Falun Dafa.

Practitioners explained the information on display boards.

One after another, people signed the petition to stop the persecution in China after learning the facts.

It’s Great to Share Such Important Information

Sirpa said, “Thank you for sharing such important information in Finland. This is great!”

When Markus saw the words, “petition for human rights” on the marquee and he immediately signed the petition to express his support. He was aware of organ harvesting. He said, “I feel terrible hearing such news, the actions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are unreasonable, I don’t like the CCP. I hope Chinese people have freedom, and the country is free. I want to see a free world.” Before he left, he wished practitioners a wonderful day.

Linda who is from the UK holidaying in Helsinki told practitioners, “The truth, love, and other moral virtues are more powerful than material things because these are at the spiritual level. The CCP is atheist, they are afraid of people raising things on the spiritual level. They are scared that people will have an influence on the materialism they preach. In fact, the different thoughts people have cannot be suppressed. Please continue the important work you do.” Before leaving, she took two fliers, one for herself, and the other for her children to read.

Henry heard of Falun Gong on many occasions and signed the petition to stop the persecution. He likes to meditate and do yoga in his spare time. He said, “There are many things people are incapable of doing, and they are controlled by evil things behind them.” He believes in karma, reincarnation, and retribution therefore he understood that many disasters are god’s warning to people such as the COVID outbreak and terrible weather.

We Need to Support One Another

An Indian man who works in the service industry told practitioners after signing the petition, “We need to support one another because we live in the same world. Whether you are from the U.S., Australia, England or other European countries, although people have different skin colors, everyone has to come together to support one another. If not, the world will become terrible. This is important.”

He learned that practitioners raise awareness of the CCP’s brutal persecution of human rights through different activities held worldwide. He said, “Comparing it to the U.S., Italy and other countries, I am sorry to say the CCP is a dictatorship, it’s a bad government, it has a different operating system. For example, during the COVID pandemic, the regime acted irresponsibly towards Chinese people.”

People Support Practitioners’ Efforts to Expose the Persecution

Sirpa, a retired artist, and her husband attended the International Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren practitioners held at the Galleria Albert IX in downtown Helsinki in 2021. As soon as she saw practitioners she immediately struck up a conversation.

She said she is 87 years old this year and has been through many things. She felt deep regret for things that happened around her. She said the continuous decline of human moral values, and the speed at which it’s deteriorating makes her feel sad. She said she’s also worried about China’s human rights issues. She supports practitioners' continuous efforts and feels what they do is an important thing, so she stopped to chat with practitioners for a long time.

Harri who visited China four times in the past signed the petition to show his support after accepting a flier from a practitioner. He spoke of his experience in China: “In China, you can only access uncensored information through VPN software. Google does not work. China is not a democratic society, information is not transparent, the situation of Chinese people is not good.” He understood clearly why Chinese people find it hard to distinguish between China and the CCP.

He also said the CCP not only persecutes Falun Dafa, it also suppresses some minority groups. He is worried for the Tibetans and wants to visit Lhasa to see how things are.

Another Finnish man said he often saw practitioners holding activities to raise awareness about the persecution near Kamppi in Helsinki. He told practitioners firmly, “The European Union needs to unite and censure the CCP for its crimes, stop the persecution together.”

Feeling Calm Doing the Exercises

Jukka saw photos about the history of Falun Dafa on the display boards. The photos include the practice’s public introduction in China in 1992 and how it spread to the whole world, Master giving lectures in the hall in China as well as men and women, young and old doing the exercises together in large groups in public areas in China. He said, “I once learned the exercises at an exhibition and joined other practitioners in doing the exercises outdoors twice. It stopped my random thoughts, I found inner peace and it was a great experience.”

It is now the best season in Northern Europe. Every week, practitioners do the exercises at Hesperianpuisto Park. Practitioners invited Jukka to join them in doing the exercises.