(Clearwisdom.net) In order to protest the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s crimes of harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners, on April 14, 2006, practitioners started a 72-hour hunger strike in front of the Chinese Embassy in Riga. Mārtiņš Rubenis, a bronze medalist in the Turin Winter Olympic Games and the first Olympic medalist in the history of Latvia, participated in the hunger strike.


Olympic medalist Rubenis, hunger strike participant, being interviewed

Rubenis indicated that he participated in the 72-hour hunger strike to raise awareness, and that he would spend 24 hours in front of the Chinese embassy in protest himself. He said that, "I think it is my responsibility to let people around the world to know about this matter. The CCP regime tramples human rights, but will hold the Olympic Games. As an athlete, this is unacceptable!"


Protest in front of the Chinese Embassy

A spokesperson for the Baltic Sea Falun Dafa Association said, "We call for help from the Latvian government and people to stop CCP persecution of Falun Gong, and hope to conduct an immediate investigation into the CCP atrocities against Falun Gong."

The organizer of the activity said, "To support efforts to rescue Falun Gong practitioners in danger of being killed by the CCP to eliminate eyewitnesses, Latvian Falun Gong practitioners will hold 3-day hunger strike activity in front of the Chinese Embassy in Riga."

On the same day many Latvian mainstreams media reported this activity in detail.