(Clearwisdom.net) The Central News Agency reported on August 15, 2007, that the "Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" (CIPFG) and Falun Gong practitioners in Germany held Human Rights Torch Relay activities this weekend in Berlin, the capital of Germany. They called on people from all walks of life to focus attention on the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) atrocities of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit and the persecution of Falun Gong. The Human Rights Torch Relay will conduct a global relay during the coming year, covering over 100 cities around the world, including Hong Kong and Taipei.
Former East German sprinter Ines Geipel, who will jog through downtown Berlin while carrying the torch on August 18 said that the Global Human Rights Torch Relay is actually meant to help the Chinese people, as it aims to help improve China's human rights situation before the Olympics. She called on German Chancellor Merkel, who personally experienced the East German dictatorship, to raise the human rights issue directly with the CCP's leaders when she visits China at the end of this month.
Geipel, a member of the record-holding East German women's 4x 100 meter relay team, along with many other athletes at the time, used banned drugs, unaware that they ruined their health. Working as a writer now, Geipel asked that her name be erased from a record-holding East German 400-meter relay team from 1984 several years ago.
Harphen, chairman of the International Human Rights Association, an important organization in Germany that supports the Global Human Rights Torch Relay, pointed out at the press conference that the International Olympic Committee's dream has turned into a nightmare. The CCP has failed to meet its commitment in all aspects including press freedom, Tibet and Falun Gong, indicating a clear violation of the Olympic spirit.
The CIPFG, composed of more than 300 congress members, journalists, lawyers and other renowned international figures and Falun Gong practitioners, held a Human Rights Torch-lighting ceremony in Athens, birthplace of the Olympic movement on August 9, one year prior to the opening of the Beijing Olympics. In the coming year, the torch relay will travel across five continents, 30 countries and over 100 cities including Hong Kong and Taipei. The aim is to awaken the international community, encouraging them to focus attention on China's human rights issues.
With the torch relay ceremony in Athens just completed, the torch's next stop is Germany. On August 18, starting from the Olympia Stadium in Berlin where the Olympic Games were held in 1936, when the Nazis ruled, the relay will be passed on to the square in front of the Emperor William Memorial Church in the downtown area. On August 25, the relay will be passed from the 1972 Munich Olympics field, to Marien Plaza of the City Hall.
In the following two months, the Global Human Rights Torch Relay will travel to capitals of European countries including the Czech Republic, Romania, France, Lithuania, Belgium and the UK, and then continue to North America.
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