(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held activities to mark the 24-year-long persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and to call for it to end in Athens, Greece on July 15, 2023.

The prolonged heatwave named “Cleon” caused many business vendors to close and people also hurried to get out of the heat. Practitioners were unaffected by the high temperature. They demonstrated the five sets of exercises, distributed information about Falun Dafa, and talked to people.

Practitioners demonstrated the exercises and talked to passersby about Falun Dafa in Athens on July 15, 2023.

The CCP Violates Human Rights

Renata and her son Constantinos chatted with practitioners.

Renata and her son Constantinos were emotional after learning about the CCP’s ongoing persecution in China. Constantinos believed that CCP’s actions are inhumane and violate human rights.

Renata is empathetic towards practitioners’ circumstances in China. She thinks that practitioners outside of China can do more to help. Practitioners said that they have been raising awareness of Falun Dafa and telling the people about the persecution worldwide for the past 24 years. Countries such as the United States, Spain and Israel have passed laws and bills against organ transplant tourism. The persecution has been made known around the world. Renata praised practitioners for their efforts.

Renata believes one should still try to do good even under the pressure of the evil regime and one should not follow the actions of bad people. She also believes that it is one’s choice to choose between right and wrong.

She agreed with Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and was interested in learning how to practice. She came to the local group practice site the next day and downloaded the Falun Dafa lecture series, which are available online.

“I know about forced live organ harvesting. It is horrible.”

A Greek couple, Agelos and his wife Dimitri, passed by practitioners’ booth. Agelos accepted a flyer and said, “I know about Falun Dafa practitioners being persecuted in China. It was initiated by the former head of the CCP, Jiang Zemin, right?”

A practitioner said, “Yes, the persecution was launched because Jiang was jealous of Falun Dafa’s popularity.”

Agelos asked, “Is the persecution still going on?” Practitioner said that the persecution is still secretly going on and that it is not reported widely in the media. Therefore few people know about it.

“This is horrendous” the wife said. “This is my first time hearing about it.”

The practitioner told them, “Due to the lack of media freedom, many Chinese people don’t even know the truth about the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.”

Renata said, “I understand the situation Chinese people are in. I also know about CCP’s forced live organ harvesting. This is horrible.”

Before leaving, Agelos wished the practitioners all the best.

Several girls from Romania and Latvia passed by the practitioners’ booth. Practitioners handed them a flyer and said, “We are holding an activity here to tell people about a persecution.” The girls immediately started reading the flyers.

The girls expressed their shock and one said, “The CCP are harvesting organs from live Falun Dafa practitioners? Is it because they do not respect their lives and want to make a profit from it?”

When the practitioner said yes, the girl said, “You must have suffered a lot.” The practitioner said, “We are holding this activity to tell people what is going on in China and end the persecution.” The girl said she would read the flyer when she gets home and also research more about Falun Dafa.

The CCP Is Committing a Crime by Persecuting Falun Dafa

Several Chinese people passed by the informational booth. A practitioner handed them a truth-clarification newspaper and one of them said, “Oh, this is Falun Dafa.”

Another person from the group said, “Is it legal to practice Falun Dafa here?”

A practitioner replied, “Of course, it is legal to practice Falun Dafa. This is the freedom of belief. It should also be legal in China to practice Falun Dafa.”

The Chinese man said, “I have only seen people practicing Falun Dafa in jails.”

The practitioner explained that the CCP illegally arrested many Falun Dafa practitioners even though it’s not against the law to practice Falun Dafa in China. According to the Chinese constitution, citizens have freedom of belief and freedom of speech and these are their basic rights. The CCP is actually breaking its own laws by persecuting Falun Dafa.

The Chinese man thanked practitioners.

When the activity ended, Efi, a Falun Dafa practitioner was very touched. She said, “I thought there would not be many people here today due to the heatwave. There were more Chinese people than I thought. Many of them accepted truth-clarification materials. It was well worth the hard work today.”