(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a rally and march in Vienna on August 29, 2026, to introduce Falun Gong and raise awareness of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution and state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting. The European Tian Guo Marching Band, waist drum team, and dragon and lion dance teams participated in the event.

The European Tian Guo Marching Band in Vienna on August 29 (Minghui.org)

Practitioners march in Vienna on August 29. (Minghui.org)

A practitioner tells people about Falun Gong and the persecution by the CCP during a pause in the parade. (Minghui.org)

Practitioners march in Vienna on August 29. (Minghui.org)

Spectators watch the parade in Vienna. (Minghui.org)

Practitioners’ parade in Vienna on August 29 (Minghui.org)

People learn about Falun Gong and the CCP’s persecution. (Minghui.org)

People Condemn the Persecution

Ms. Angela Gutmann was delighted to see the practitioners’ parade outside the Hofburg Palace. She accepted a flyer and read it. She had never heard about practitioners’ efforts to raise awareness of the persecution before, but she said, “When you are being persecuted and oppressed, it’s good to say, ‘This is happening. This isn’t right.’”

Mr. Schumacher also liked the parade and agreed with Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He said it was unbelievable that the practice has been persecuted by the CCP for 27 years and expressed his sympathy for the Chinese people: “Life in China is difficult.”

Werner Breining at the rally (Minghui.org)

Werner Breining, who owns an insurance company, signed the petition calling for an end to the persecution. He said that the CCP’s forced organ harvesting was “horrible:” “It is against the Human Rights Convention of 1949.”

Werner said it was important for practitioners to tell people about the persecution “so that people know about it. That’s why I stopped and looked into it.”

Practitioners do the exercises together on Stephansplatz. (Minghui.org)

A candlelight vigil commemorates practitioners who died in the persecution. (Minghui.org)

Chinese Quit the CCP and Its Affiliated Organizations

Among the spectators who watched the Tian Guo Marching Band perform on Stephansplatz were several Chinese. One young man said he hadn’t joined the CCP, but he and his two friends quit the Young Pioneers and the Youth League, its two youth organizations.

A couple from China who live in Canada watched practitioners demonstrate the exercises on Stephansplatz. The wife said they had gone to see Shen Yun in Canada: “We hadn’t planned to go, but after the CCP made a bomb threat, we went to see it to express our support.” The husband said Shen Yun was “fantastic.”

He liked the practitioners’ exercise demonstration, saying it was, “Very good!” He also said the CCP is “very evil.”

The couple said they had already quit the CCP organizations.

Cubans Know What the CCP Is Really Like

Armando Frias, a Cuban software developer who lives in Germany, visits the booth. (Minghui.org)

Armando Frias, originally from Cuba, said he liked the practitioners’ group exercises: “I think it’s good. A lot of people. Rather peaceful. This is a very popular street. It’s peaceful.”

He was impressed with the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. “I think it’s good, but I’d have to look into it more because I don’t know much about it yet.”

He said he knew what the Communist Party is like: “Cubans have lived under a dictatorship for 67 years with the same party, the same family, in power.” He said that, from the time he was a child, he knew what the Party was like, that food was rationed, that it’s been like that since Castro came to power.

When talking about the human rights abuses in China, he said some people turn a blind eye to protect their economic interests. He said, “Even if people know these problems exist, they still buy Chinese products and don’t know what’s behind them. People are exploited. They only see the beauty and not what lies behind it. This is important.”