(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held an event on Reesendammbrücke, a historic bridge in downtown Hamburg, Germany, on August 15, 2020.

They gathered to promote awareness of the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China. Falun Gong is a practice that promotes physical and spiritual wellness and is based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The Chinese regime launched a nationwide persecution of Falun Gong in 1999 and since then has subjected practitioners to imprisonment, torture, and harvesting organs from practitioners when still alive. 

Falun Gong practitioners demonstrate the exercises on Reesendammbrücke in Hamburg, Germany, on August 15, 2020. 

Passersby talk to practitioners and learn about the 21-year-long persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Many people stopped to read fliers and posters to learn more about Falun Gong and the ongoing persecution in China. 

People sign a petition demanding an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

Nice weather and a parade nearby meant that foot traffic was quite heavy on the bridge. Many parade participants stopped by the practitioners’ booth and were disturbed to learn about the human rights crisis in China. 

Among them, Eva, asked a practitioner for more information about the persecution after reading the banners and display boards. She was dismayed to learn about the organ harvesting crimes, and signed the petition calling for an end to the atrocities. She asked for more newsletters to give to her friends and family. 

Eva was dismayed to find out about the Chinese Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. 

A participant in a local parade, still in costume, learns about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. 

A woman who signed the petition said she already knew about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. It turned out that her stepmother was Chinese, and the woman often went to China. The last time she went, she stayed for six months. “I heard that one can find a liver donor in two weeks. That is unbelievable. In Germany you would have to wait 10 years,” she said. She gave the practitioners her best wishes. 

A Chinese woman who lives in Germany tells practitioners that Beijing authorities locked up her father because he practiced Falun Gong. 

A Chinese woman read the posters and then told a practitioner that her whole family in China practiced Falun Gong. Her father was in prison because he refused to give up his belief. She said that she had read the Falun Gong teachings online. Practitioners helped her get a copy of a Falun Gong book that she’d wanted for a long time. 

Lars signs the petition to condemn the persecution of Falun Gong. 

Lars learned about the persecution of Falun Gong for the first time. He commented that people with independent thinking are likely to be targeted in China. He knew about China stealing organs from death row prisoners, but he had no idea that China harvests organs from incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners while they were still alive. He signed the petition and took fliers about the persecution.