(Minghui.org) Helsinki-päivä (Helsinki Day) on June 12 celebrates the founding of the city of Helsinki and is celebrated across the city with various events and festivities. Businesses decorate the streets, and schools, cultural organizations, and volunteers organize performances and exhibits.
Falun Dafa practitioners joined the celebration at the Esplanadin Puisto Park in downtown Helsinki, a popular location, on June 12, 2025. They demonstrated the exercises, handed out fliers, and told people about the benefits of practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong).
Practitioners demonstrate the exercises at Esplanadin Puisto Park on June 12, 2025.
Learning the exercises
Esplanadin Puisto Park is located in the center of Helsinki. It features linden trees, flower beds, lush lawns, and many benches which make the park a popular location where locals and tourists take walks, sunbathe, and read. The park is a tourist attraction during the summer. It was sunny that day, and locals and tourists from different parts of the world came to the booths and stopped to watch the street performances. Many people talked to practitioners, learned about Falun Dafa and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution, and signed the petition calling to end it.
People learn about the persecution
People sign the petition and voice their support for Falun Dafa practitioners.
Luise from the Netherlands was vacationing in Finland and said he saw Falun Dafa practitioners’ activities in the Netherlands. After he signed the petition, he said, “I wish you success!”
After two young people from Taiwan heard about the CCP’s crime of forced organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners, one said, “It’s so scary that such things happen in today’s society.” The other person said he knew of similar instances of persecution in China. They expressed sympathy for the practitioners and signed the petition. They were also interested in learning to practice Falun Dafa. They listened attentively as a practitioner explained what Falun Dafa is and how to practice.
Two young people from Taiwan were interested in Falun Dafa.
A retired Finnish woman told practitioners, “I know about your practice, which emphasizes improvement in thinking. This is not a religion, but the CCP is persecuting you in China. This is unbelievable to me.” A practitioner explained that Falun Dafa emphasizes Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The woman said, “China is a totalitarian country, but freedom should not be ruled. I believe that everyone has the right to choose their own path.” She expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to learn more.
Another passerby said she read on the Internet about some practitioners’ experiences. She said, “It’s really scary that such things happen in the world today. You’re only doing the exercises but you are persecuted.”
A retired Finnish couple from Kuopio were vacationing in Helsinki. They said they watched Yle (Finnish Broadcasting Company) and heard Falun Dafa practitioners in Finland were harassed. The man told practitioners, “I hope you are safe.”
A practitioner said, “Finland is very safe. But in China, many practitioners’ lives are in danger. Practitioners outside China participate in activities to let people know about the persecution, in order to stop the CCP’s bad deeds.” When he heard that practitioners have been collecting signatures for over 20 years, he remarked, “That’s a very a long time!”
Ali from Pakistan has lived in Finland for fifteen years. He asked practitioners, “Why does the CCP do this? On the one hand, they’re showing off to the world how great China’s economy is; but on the other hand, they are brutally treating their own people, putting them in jail and even harvesting their organs. This is inhuman. They can’t do this. Who gave them this right?”
A practitioner explained how practitioners conduct themselves according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He read the flyer and said, “The CCP is a gang. It is insane. If I faced something like this, I would continue exposing it and not give up.”
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