Croatia: July 20th Memorial Service in Zagreb Generates Great Media Interest (Photos)

By Falun Gong practitioners from Croatia and Austria

(Clearwisdom.net) Many months ago we decided that on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the persecution we would hold a memorial day in Zagreb. All practitioners accepted and supported this idea enthusiastically, including those who were unable to attend the activities in person. Practitioners from all over the world offered their help. They offered to translate, do revisions, contact the media, and so on. Two days before the event, everything appeared to be in great order, although all those organizers were very busy until just before the event. Everyone was under great pressure to do well. We had shared the assignments, contacted the media, prepared posters, designed new posters, and so on.

Alas, on the day of our departure, suddenly we were saddled with much interference, such as time delays with the completion of the posters, traffic congestion during our trip to Zagreb, and a thunderstorm. All this seemed arranged to throw us into turmoil. Yes, we must admit, we were a little alarmed, but we were determined to hold this event, no matter what. We decided that on that coming Saturday, at least two of us would be at the appointed place.

One practitioner from Croatia was suggesting to perhaps abort the trip, given the unpleasant weather conditions. Then she decided that nothing could stop her and she came to the event.

After everyone had made their decision, all the unusual occurrences turned for the best. We were firm and went to Zagreb, despite the traffic congestion, arriving too late at the hotel, and so on. The owner insisted that we should wake him up, no matter the time of our arrival, and not stay somewhere else overnight. We took him up on it and woke him up at 3 a.m. (We must admit, the navigation towards the hotel was, even for a seasoned navigator, a challenge.)

One of our colleagues, who brought the posters directly to the event, had lost even more time because of the thunderstorm and the traffic congestion than we had the prior day. Therefore, he was unable to come to the event on time. Here we were with one poster, the poster depicting the victims of the persecution, the one we had prepared ourselves; as well as a few smaller posters we always kept in the car, in case we needed them.

The poster had to be glued to a board and laminated within a short period of time. Also, we had to finish stitching the flowers. We were amazed and delighted at our ability to get anything done on time, especially considering the time it usually takes us to finish such projects.

Poster with pictures depicting the victims of the persecution	Flyers in different languages

Our arrival in downtown Zagreb was uneventful. Given rainy weather, road construction, and so on, we arrived a little later than announced at the business square. We could place the few posters and material we had with us prominently. After placing the posters the rain stopped, the clouds disappeared and the sun came out!

Zagreb's citizen's read with great interest about the persecution of Falun Gong in China

Demonstrating the exercises on the Zagreb Business Square	Articles about the event were published in a number of Croatia’s. A television broadcaster was also present.

A reporter was already waiting patiently for us. Later, another two reporters and a team from the television station arrived. They took many pictures and interviewed and filmed the practitioners. Two excellent articles about our event were published in two of Croatia's largest newspapers the next day. We found that the event had already been announced on-line a few days earlier.

We believe that our righteous thoughts, and our confidence that all would go well had a great effect on the outcome of our activities.

Practicing and teaching the Falun Gong exercises in the park

Zagreb's citizens showed great and deep interest, despite, or because of another event at the same location. On Saturday and Sunday, many of those interested came to the exercise event in the park, which were announced earlier. A new practitioner traveled quite some distance to join us and practice the exercises with us, as up to date he had learned Falun Gong only over the Internet.

Though we are satisfied with the outcome of the event and had great response during our activity, because we held righteous thoughts, could not be deterred from our decision, this event encouraged us towards many new endeavors. We saw how we could do better next time, and all we needed to prepare ahead of time for such an event. We all are grateful for the experience.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200508/28252.html

Previously published in German athttp://www.clearharmony.de/articles/200508/25638.html

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