United Kingdom: Car Tour Through York Exposes the Persecution of Falun Gong (Photos)
By a practitioner in the UK
(Clearwisdom.net) In order to let more British people know about the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) trade in organs harvested from living Falun Gong
practitioners, four UK Falun Gong practitioners carried out a car tour in York
County. The following report was written by the touring practitioners. The car tour took place in York County A lawyer's sense of justice Our first stop was the University of Durham. We received an invitation from a
lawyer at the university to talk about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. When we met with the lawyer, he had a stack of materials about Falun Gong on
his desk. He is very interested in Falun Gong issues and had already read lots
of information. He was holding an English translation of Chinese law and pointed
out to us the absurdity of current Chinese law with a scholar's perceptive
insight. A veteran Chinese Falun Gong practitioner went with us to meet with the
lawyer. In China, the persecution left her destitute and homeless. She endured
countless hardships and managed to come to the UK last year. She talked about
her painful experience in China. A western practitioner talked about the
recently exposed matter of Falun Gong practitioners having their organs removed
while they were still alive, and gave him a copy of former Canadian MP David
Kilgour's independent investigation report. We talked to the lawyer about the benefits of practicing Falun Gong, of our
peaceful protests against the atrocities and of the CCP's inhumanity. He sighed
upon hearing all of this. Then he invited us to hold a workshop about the
persecution of Falun Gong for fifty law students next term. He said that the
students also need to know the facts about Falun Gong. The kindness of a reporter The media is the best way to spread information. Therefore, contacting the
media was a key point of this car tour. We decided to visit as many media
sources as we could. Some media outlets refused us the first time and so we visited them again. As
long as they were willing to arrange an interview, no matter how far the
distance, we drove out to meet them. The Sunderland Echo interview was
such an opportunity. First of all, a photographer took a picture of us sitting in meditation. A
reporter later interviewed us. She was moved the practitioners' kindness and
sympathized with us. She interviewed us for more than an hour in great detail
and still did not want to us to leave, until we reminded her that if we did not
go, we would miss the next media interview. Just before we left, she gave one of
the practitioners a very warm hug and wished her the best. Change in media attitude That day, our car tour started in Sheffield. We went to a local newspaper
office and told them the purpose of our visit. The receptionist acted brusquely
in order to get rid of us. She asked us to leave our informational materials
with her, saying that she would pass them along to the news department. A
practitioner spoke to her patiently. Gradually, her attitude changed, and at
last she telephoned the news department. The people in the news department
appeared to be not interested, and did not want to see us; they would only agree
to talk to us by phone. We did not give up and kept our minds calm, carefully
explaining the situation to them. As a result, things changed dramatically.
Reporters not only came out to meet us, they interviewed us immediately and
brought a photographer to take pictures. The photographer took photos of us, as
well as of our pictures of practitioners being persecuted in China. City Hall members moved Halifax is a small town situated in York County. We have carried out Falun
Gong activities at the Halifax City Hall before. However, the city hall
previously only allowed us to do the exercises and did not allow us to publicly
clarify the truth about the persecution. We decided to take this
opportunity to talk with them. Group photo with city hall members in Halifax We met with the city hall members at the arranged time. A western
practitioner introduced Falun Gong, the reasons for the persecution and recent
developments in the persecution. Then, the Chinese practitioners spoke of their
own experiences. Two of the city hall members were moved to tears. They made
some suggestions and said they would do their best to help. When we mentioned that Halifax City Hall previously did not permit us to tell
people about Falun Gong being persecuted, they thought that this did not make
sense and absolutely shouldn't be the case. They indicated that they would look
into this matter and help to solve the problem. Thus, a difficult issue was
resolved through righteous thoughts and simply explaining the situation. Personal growth during the car tour We made plenty of preparation before the car tour. Many practitioners helped
to collect information to set up databases. A few days before we started the
tour, practitioners stayed up late day after day, preparing nearly one thousand
letters, in order to arrange meetings before the start of our car tour. We
received several replies asking us for interviews. Because this car tour lasted only five days, in order to visit more media
outlets, city hall members, and other local people, our itinerary was carefully
arranged. Sometimes we got up at about 5 a.m. and started driving about 6 a.m.
Each day we visited three to four cities, even eating hurriedly while driving.
Fatigue often overcame us after each day's activities. We were concerned about
our oldest member, a practitioner nearly seventy years old, and asked her
whether she could sustain the physical effort. She said that although she was
very tired, she was very happy inside. The western practitioner who went with us is a new practitioner who only
started practicing Falun Dafa thirteen months ago. He is introverted and shy,
but, he conquered the psychological pressure and took on almost all the contacts
with the media and local people. He truly reflected a Falun Gong practitioner's
seriousness, rationality, and self-confidence. During the car tour, each one of us carried out different tasks and
cooperated with each other. We let go of ego, forming a strong body without any
conflicts. Accordingly, our car tour successfully achieved its aim. During the
five days of the tour, we visited major cities in the north of England and many
cities within York County. We had six media interviews, and visited Members of
Parliament, city hall members, human rights lawyers and others. We all benefited
greatly from the experience. Quite a few of the media asked us the same question: "What are you going
to do after this car tour?" We told them, "We will organize car tours
in other places, in order to have more people in the UK know the truth about the
persecution of Falun Gong."
Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200608/34914.html
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/8/3/134695.html
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