Practitioners Hold Press Conference in Lithuania about Their Detainment at the Border
(Clearwisdom.net) VILNIUS, LITHUANIA, June 16 -- Today (Sunday) was a bright,
sunny day in downtown Vilnius, the capitol city of Lithuania. Approximately 30 practitioners who had come from the U.S., Canada,
Australia, Germany, Sweden and Russia held a press conference in a park
located blocks away from the Parliamentary buildings in the center of
Vilnius so that the people who had been illegally detained at the Lithuanian
border while attempting to enter the country could speak with local media
about their ordeal. The detainment of the Falun Dafa practitioners comes on the heels of news
regarding a "blacklist" of Falun Dafa practitioners around the world that
Jiang Zemin is pressuring countries he visits to use in order to prevent
practitioners from entering those countries during his stay. Despite the fact that it was Sunday -- a day on which many media in
Lithuania do not have reporters available to cover stories -- two local
television and two print media attended the press conference. A Chinese practitioner from the UK gave the opening remarks, introducing the
topics of Falun Dafa, the persecution in China and why practitioners had
come to Lithuania. She then introduced Maria Sahlin from Sweden who told
her story of how she was detained for over an hour and had all her
belongings searched as she tried to enter Lithuania. Bernhard Aurnhammer, a practitioner from Germany, was also stopped by police
at the Lithuanian border. The police then tried to force him into a
prison cell in order to detain him. Bernhard refused because he had done
nothing wrong, and managed to speak with the border guards. Finally, after
he was given an opportunity to reason with the police, he was released and
entered Lithuania. Approximately 8 other practitioners were also questioned at Lithuanian
borders for no reason. Practitioners then spoke personally, one-on-one with the reporters for 30
minutes regarding Falun Gong, its teachings, history and the persecution
in China. Meanwhile, a group of practitioners continued to perform the
exercises in the background as the TV cameramen moved around taking footage
at different angles. Some practitioners sat in different areas of the park, practicing exercise 5
or sending forth righteous thoughts. The TV cameramen walked around to film
these practitioners up close. After the press conference, practitioners sat in a large circle in the
middle of the park and sent forth righteous thoughts together. Throughout the entire event, local residents passing by were given a flyer
in Lithuanian. Almost every single person happily accepted the flyer and read
it intently.
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