(Minghui.org) Turkish Falun Dafa practitioners gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul to protest and raise awareness about the persecution of the practice, which has been ongoing in China for the past 19 years. The activity took place during human rights week, on December 7, 2018.

Despite cold weather, the practitioners demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises and held a press conference about the persecution in China.

Practitioners meditating in front of Istanbul’s Chinese Consulate.

A Chinese man from the consular staff told photographers that were present for the press conference that they could not take pictures, which included practitioners. The staff member asked a practitioner, “Have you ever been to China? You don’t know China at all.” The practitioner replied, “We cannot go to China, or we will be arrested!” The Chinese staff member was eventually taken away by Turkish police due to his continued threatening behavior.

During the one-hour event, passersby stopped to receive brochures, while others smiled and gave thumbs-up.

Sözcü newspaper reported about the protest on their website.

The banners attracted a lot of attention from the media who came to cover the event. The reporters were from the most followed newspapers in Turkey, including the Sözcü newspaper, which also published a video report on the event. Other newspapers also published reports on their websites.

The Sözcü newspaper said in their report that over 4,000 practitioners were confirmed to have been killed in the persecution, and mentioned the brutal organ harvesting crimes targeting practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.