Greece: People Condemn the Ongoing Persecution of Falun Dafa During Events in Athens

(Minghui.org) Practitioners gathered near the Acropolis on April 21 and 28, and in front of the Chinese Embassy on April 22, 2024. They did the exercises and told people about the ongoing persecution of Falun Dafa in China, hoping to raise public awareness and end the persecution soon.

Practitioners did the exercises near the Acropolis on April 21 and 28, 2024, and talked to passersby about Falun Dafa and the ongoing persecution in China.

People who visited the Acropolis read the posters and learned about the 25-year-long persecution that is still happening in China.

Damian is from Ireland but lives in Greece. He said that Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are important values in life. He also knew that the Chinese regime systematically harvests organs from living practitioners, who are incarcerated for not renouncing their faith. “I knew about the history and what happened with the organ harvesting. For many years I felt helpless that I couldn’t bring this up to the public level, to the surface level. Not enough people are aware of this,” he said.

Damian talked about an example he knew: An Israeli found a matching liver donor, and underwent a transplant surgery after spending three days in China. “This is impossible, somebody was murdered for this liver,” he said.

“It’s a very serious case,” he continued, “It must be exposed and spoken about more, so that the souls of the people who went through the torture are given dignity, honor and respect, and can rest.”

A Greek woman, Vasiliki, watched the practitioners meditate. “I noticed their serenity and I felt a strong energy that can destroy negative energy. I feel healed and very calm,” she said.

Vasiliki agrees with Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

When asked about the values of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, she said, “It’s hard to find these values in people now.” She said that people lie to get what they want, and that she did not approve of this behavior. “It’s good to embrace Falun Dafa’s values.”

She was outraged by the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. “If this happened in Greece, I would definitely move out of the country. I wouldn’t tolerate it.” “People should be allowed to keep up their spirituality. This is the number one characteristic that makes you human,” she said.

Kristi from Albania sympathized with practitioners who suffer persecution in China. He explained that his country was once under the communist rule, and people did not have freedom of belief, even in their own homes. They would be thrown in jail once secret agents discovered that they practiced a religious belief. After knowing that this still happens in China, he said, “It’s terrible, and I hope the persecution will end as soon as possible. People should get together and do something about that, because it’s against humanity.”

Kristi from Albania supported practitioners’ activities to end the persecution.

A practitioner explained to Kristi that the practitioners in China who refused to give up their faith are incarcerated and tortured, or even killed for their organs. He said in disbelief, “In western countries, brutalizing animals is considered terrible, let alone humans. This is even more terrible. I am speechless.”

Fay Damianaki once majored in drama and theology, and admired Oriental culture. When she saw the practitioners do the exercises, she took a flier and asked where she could learn them.

Fay soon returned and carefully watched practitioners do the exercises. A practitioner taught her the movements of all five Falun Dafa exercises. She said that she felt great afterward, and planned to go to the exercise site. She asked for the web address where she could download all the Falun Dafa books for free.

A man learned about Falun Dafa and the persecution when he traveled to a different country. After meeting the practitioners in the Acropolis in Athens, he suggested they protest in front of the Chinese Embassy. When they told him they planned to, he raised his thumb and said, “Good luck. Keep up what you are doing. You will succeed.”

To commemorate the peaceful protest that took place 25 years ago on April 25, 1999 in Beijing, practitioners protested in front of the Chinese Embassy on April 22, 2024. They condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s lies and brutality against the practitioners in the persecution.

Practitioners peacefully protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in Athens on April 22, 2024.

The local police chief was on duty to keep order. The practitioners told him the purpose of the protest, what Falun Dafa is, and what happened in China in the persecution. He expressed his support for practitioners’ efforts, and refused a request by the Chinese Embassy to expel them. A policewoman said she was glad to see practitioners again and said she supported their activity to tell people about the ongoing persecution.

Background: What Is the April 25 Appeal?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries worldwide. Millions of people have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance as well as five gentle exercises—and experienced improved health and well-being.

On April 23 & 24, 1999, police officials in Tianjin, a city near Beijing, assaulted and arrested dozens of practitioners who had gathered outside a magazine office to discuss errors in a recently-published article attacking Falun Dafa. As word spread of the arrests and more practitioners inquired with officials, they were told they had to take their appeals to Beijing.

The following day, April 25, some 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners spontaneously gathered at the Central Appeals office in Beijing, as they had been instructed by Tianjin officials. The gathering was peaceful and orderly. Several Falun Dafa representatives were called in to meet with Chinese Premier, Zhu Rongji, and members of his staff. That evening, practitioners' concerns were answered. The arrested practitioners in Tianjin were released and everyone went home.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and issued an order to ban Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners due to the persecution over the years; the actual number is suspected to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.