(Minghui.org) On October 26, 2025, Falun Dafa practitioners from different cities in the Netherlands held an activity near the Utrecht Central Station to tell the public about Falun Dafa and the forced organ harvesting of its practitioners in China. They set up an information booth with materials displaying the facts of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution. They did the Falun Dafa exercises, and collected signatures on a petition that calls on the G7+7 nations to take action to stop the CCP’s forced organ harvesting operations.
Both locals and tourists stopped to find out more and to support the practitioners’ efforts. They also expressed their solidarity with practitioners in China, and encouraged them to continue upholding their faith.
On October 26, 2025, Falun Dafa practitioners held an activity near the Utrecht Central Station to introduce Falun Dafa and raise awareness of the forced organ harvesting in China.
Store Owner: “Something Needs to Happen”
Maria Verwijk who owns a local store signed the petition. She said the persecution was “disgusting” and “horrible.”
“When things like [the persecution] happen, it’s also really important that people have knowledge that this is really happening. People live in their bubble. And I think it’s good for people to see what happens outside their own bubble. These things [persecution of Falun Dafa in China] are reality. I think something needs to happen in countries and around the world to shed light on it,” she said.
She also thinks that Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are “the most important” things in society. “We are real followers of Christ. So those are also values that we consider very highly. Always speak the truth, always have compassion. Turn the other cheek, try to understand your fellow people, help them, be kind. The values that you hold are also values that for me are very important,” she said. “I think the society will be better off having these values. And really, really living them. A lot of people say they are something, but being it and truly living it out in your heart, I think that’s the most important thing for society. And I think we see in our society now there's a lot of lack of it. People don’t have the values anymore that they need to have.”
Maria said she thinks the CCP does this type of persecution because they are scared of freedom. “I think they’re scared of freedom. I think they’re really scared of what happens when people use their minds and follow truth and follow love. I think there are a lot of things that need to change. I think the people who run the country need to change.”
Two Young Men Call for an End to the Persecution
Utrecht residents Siem van Voorthuizen and Pom Reichert came to the petition stand and asked about the persecution. After speaking to a Falun Dafa practitioner, they both signed it.
Pom Reichert (left) and Siem van Voorthuizen (right) sign the petition.
“I think that everyone deserves to lead a normal life, especially people who are just meditating quietly. And if they are then murdered by taking their organs or executed, I think that’s a bad thing. So I wanted to sign,” said Reichert. Van Voorthuizen agreed with him, and said that the CCP’s persecution is “Very bad.”
Reichert and van Voorthuizen also resonated with Falun Dafa’s moral tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. “I find these values beautiful!” said Reichert. “I think that if more people live by these values, especially with so much nastiness in the world, with so many wars and genocides, I think it’s very good if people turn to themselves. To see how they can improve themselves. Instead of judging others for what they do. It’s better to start by improving yourself. I don’t think you can honestly evaluate if what others are doing is right if you’re not a good person yourself.”
Both of them said that they would share the petition with friends and relatives. “I think the more signatures, the better,” said Reichert.
Pom Reichert (left) and Siem van Voorthuizen (right)
The CCP Persecution Is “Completely Inhumane”
Irem Karasu is originally from Turkey and lives in Rotterdam. She stopped to read the practitioners’ large banner, which has detailed information about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. After she learned more about the persecution she signed the petition and said she would share the petition with her relatives. “At least it encourages people with a conscience to take a look and pay attention,” she said.
Irem Karasu
Irem said her family has friends from China and she appreciates Chinese culture. She wished to do something good for the people in China and she said that some minority groups like the Uyghurs are being persecuted. She said Falun Dafa’s values are positive and universal to all beliefs.
“Even though I’m not a big believer in religion, these are still the foundation of every religion. And I think everyone should be sensitive to these principles. That’s why it’s completely inhumane for any communist party or political entity to obstruct them,” she said.
The CCP Is Persecuting China’s Historic Values
Tanwi Slothubar and Mikhail Volski are Utrecht residents who signed the petition. Volski said that because he’s from the Philippines, he knows how the CCP infringes on the Philippines’ borders. He also said when he visited China he could feel the control the CCP has over people.
“I was in Hong Kong and China earlier this year and all the people, all the local people that I spoke to in Hong Kong before I went to China said, ‘Keep your head down. Don’t look at the cameras. Just act like a normal person.’ I felt that oppression first hand when I walked through the border control from the Hong Kong terminal to the Shenzhen terminal. I went there by train and I felt like I had to be very careful.”
He said he felt if he expressed his opinions freely while he was in China, “I may never be able to return to my family.
“It was that way in Hong Kong—all of the locals there that I spoke to,” he continued. “They said that China is not a topic you should talk about in this country because we’re all scared.”
He also said that Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are values that form the basis of China’s history. “I think it’s very ironic that the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t allow their own people to celebrate the values that basically resonate with their history,” he said.
Slothubar said she signed the petition because she thinks it’s up to people outside of China to help the people inside. “I think that people in other countries such as these can make a big difference in talking about [the persecution,]” she said.
People sign the petition calling for the CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa to end.
[Note: G7+7 countries. The G7 countries are the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The +7 countries are Argentina, Australia, India, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan.]
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