(Clearwisdom.net) In spite of last minute planning, practitioners gathered in Frankfurt on May 13 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Falun Dafa - the day ten years ago in 1992 when Master Li Hongzhi first introduced the system to the public. Practitioners from Frankfurt and surrounding areas met for the day to exchange ideas and participate in a bicycle tour through Frankfurt and local environs.
The day began in Sachsenhausen for the seven participants. Sachsenhausen is a southern suburb of Frankfurt, on the opposite side of the Main River from the city center. Our first destination was the plaza in front of the Suedbahnhof (south train station). We were well supplied with newspapers and flyers. Our bikes were adorned with flags, lovingly handmade by a practitioner. The flags read, "Falun Gong" and also carried the Chinese characters "Zhen, Shan, Ren." It must have been the first time for many of the public to see a group of people sitting in the lotus position and meditating. We sent our righteous thoughts and distributed flyers to passers-by and to area retailers.
Our group, clad in yellow t-shirts and waving yellow Dafa flags, generated a lot of interest from the crowds moving through the area. We were able to hand out many flyers. We constantly asked ourselves if we should move on to other locations or simply continue where we were. Later on, we demonstrated the exercises at another location in the southern part of Frankfurt and spoke with several passers-by. From there we crossed the Main River and rode toward the beautiful and historic Opera House in the heart of Frankfurt, a very busy spot around lunchtime favored by locals and tourists alike. We stopped there to clarify the truth to the many people there. We limited ourselves to three practitioners at once, thereby eliminating the need for a permit, and demonstrated the exercises.
At noon we continued our Falun Dafa Day celebrations at the "Eiserner Steg," (Iron Bridge) an ancient, picturesque pedestrian bridge across the Main River. The bridge is a primary pedestrian artery across the river and is equally popular with locals and tourists.
The day had become brilliantly sunny and warm, and remained so until evening. We were united in the joy of participating in this 10th anniversary with other practitioners in a festive mood. The exercise group portrayed a beautiful, harmonious picture and the afternoon sun bathed the huge, yellow Dafa banner in golden light. We were pleased that many passers-by saw our group performing the exercises and asked pertinent questions. It was truly an international group of people that met us and we had information available in almost everyone's language.
We paid particular attention to tourists from China. We gave them truth clarifying information and VCDs in Chinese. The Chinese tourists are unwittingly our most important helpers to break Jiang Zemin's blockade, and there were quite a few Chinese there that day! We were overjoyed to show them that Falun Gong is widely practiced and appreciated outside of China, thereby revealing the lies the Chinese government spreads!
Our bike group remained at the Opera Plaza for a long time. Since there were only three of us there at any one time instead of a large group, we had no need for a permit. This overcame the authorities earlier refusal to issue a permit in a very natural and harmonious way. We were still able to hand out hundreds of flyers. Each one of us experienced that even though people were in a hurry, they did stop and smilingly accepted a flyer or a newspaper. They must have recognized the value of the information, because we found very few flyers tossed to ground.
Afterwards the group rode to the Main River Promenade (an elegant, broad walkway along the river, beautifully landscaped and adorned with statuary and benches) where we made sure the people strolling along became aware of us. Most everyone received some reading material. Almost no one sitting on the benches was left out. Flyers were handed around from cyclist to cyclist.
Everyone had fun during our first-ever cycling tour of Frankfurt. Our group reunited with the other half who had stayed to spend the afternoon at "Eiserner Steg," where it so happened that a TV team was videotaping a Falun Gong segment. With such great weather, the TV team was able to get some truly excellent footage to document this 10th anniversary of Falun Dafa's introduction to the public. We all left in a happy mood, having had a successful day.
(Original text in German)