Mayor André Hédiger of Geneva Comments on Peacefulness of Falun Gong (Photo)
By Dafa practitioner from Europe
On the afternoon of March 17, the opening day of the United Nations Human
Rights Convention, reporters interviewed Mr. Wu Wenxi, representative of
European Falun Dafa Association at La Place des Nations. Mr. Wu said that since
1999, when Falun Gong was banned by the Chinese government, every year Falun Gong
practitioners from all corners of the world have gathered at La Place des Nations
during the Human Rights Convention to protest the Jiang regime's brutal persecution
of Falun Gong and clarify the truth to human rights organizations, government officials, and NGOs about
the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government.
This year is different from previous years in that the verified number of
Falun Gong practitioners who have been persecuted to death last year was less than
400 and this year this number has climbed to over 630. In addition, many
residents of western countries were kidnapped when they returned home to visit
their family members. Each year during the Human Rights Convention, officials
from different countries condemn the persecution of Falun Gong. Last year,
the German foreign minister, Holland, UK and other governments called upon the
Chinese government to stop the persecution. We hope that all kind people and
organizations around world will come to help Falun Gong practitioners that are
being persecuted in China.
When asked why Falun Gong could have the large-scale
activity and parade when the Geneva city
government did not issue permission on Monday when the convention opened, Mr. Wu responded that Falun Gong practitioners had
submitted their application for permission to peacefully appeal quite early, giving
Geneva sufficient time to make preparation. Moreover, over a thousand Falun Gong
practitioners from more than 40 countries around the world had long prepared to
come to Switzerland to appeal. Some of their family members or good friends have
been persecuted, and some have even been tortured to death. Some are still
suffering brutal torture, and some have their lives in constant danger. So the
peaceful appeal is very important for them. Furthermore, the Swiss people and
government have come to learn that Falun Gong is very peaceful and they all
support Falun Gong. This morning, the mayor of Geneva, André Hédiger, talked about
Falun Gong while accepting an interview from a Broadcasting Station of
Switzerland. He said Falun Gong is very peaceful and there would be no problem
for them to parade. Falun Gong holds a parade every year and the police would
not interfere with them.
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/3/18/46713.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net
