United Kingdom: Revealing the Truth of the Persecution to the People of Middlesbrough (Photos)

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Dec. 6, 2004 | By a Falun Dafa practitioner in the U.K.

(Clearwisdom.net) On November 29, 2004, several Falun Gong practitioners traveled to Middlesbrough to tell the people the truth of the persecution in China. Despite the chilly weather, the practitioners introduced Falun Gong and exposed the terrible crimes that have been committed against practitioners under the direct orders of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.

I arrived at a very cold and rainy Middlesbrough train station at around 10:45 in the morning. My first impression of Middlesbrough was that it was quite a rough place. There were many houses by the train station boarded up and graffiti was all over the place. I wondered what sort of reception Falun Gong would receive from the people here. This impression of the place was short-lived however, because as soon as I walked away from the train station and towards the center of Middlesbrough, the whole place changed. It became a very clean and quaint town with a hive of activities through the main street. There were numerous shops on both sides of the street, which was kept clean and had many flowers and benches. Above the main street were many colorful Christmas lights and the overall energy of the town was really pleasant.

In no time at all we found the area where the Falun Gong activity was to be held. It was on one of the main streets that led to the market, with many people walking by. As I arrived, I saw several practitioners hanging up a banner on the wall so I immediately went over to help. The banner had several pictures of reenactments of the tortures used by Chinese police on practitioners. Throughout the day many people were drawn to this banner and asked questions about it.

On either side of the banner were freestanding boards with information introducing Falun Gong and discussing the persecution. There was also a table with several petitions and some leaflets. There were two types of petitions: the first one was to help rescue practitioners' family members who are being persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong. The second petition was calling for Jiang Zemin to be brought to justice in a court of law, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity in his persecution of Falun Gong. Next to this table, practitioners performed the five Falun Gong exercises.

Without anyone organizing the efforts, practitioners picked up flyers and petition forms and went to speak to the people walking by. Other practitioners started performing the exercises so that people could see how peaceful and serene the practice is. I chose to man the table and talk to people who came to get a leaflet or sign the petition. About five minutes after we started, the rain stopped, the grey sky cleared and the sun came out!

I had many experiences of the kindness of the people of Middlesbrough. Many children came over to ask about Falun Gong was and showed a lot of curiosity. They would look at the pictures on the banner and ask why people are beaten so badly just for practicing these peaceful exercises. It was difficult to explain that one man's jealousy could cause such a devastating persecution. I told them that in July 1999, Jiang Zemin found out that there were millions of people in China practicing Falun Gong. I told them that there were more practitioners than Communist Party members (to which they usually gave a confused face since they didn't know what Communism was). I explained that because of his jealousy he banned Falun Gong and said that anyone who refused to give up Falun Gong was to be sentenced to forced labor, beaten and tortured. Jiang said that even if the practitioners died as a result of this persecution, it would just be reported that they committed suicide. After hearing this, people would sign the petition and even get their friends to sign as well.

One child came over and asked what we were doing. Before I could reply, a woman who was signing the petition turned around and said, "These people are really peaceful, really nice people, but they are getting beaten in China. If you don't want peaceful people to get beaten up you should sign this petition." There was a crowd around the table at that time and upon hearing this, most of the people signed the petition.

Later on in the day a very rough looking man came to the table. He had dirty hands and a dirty face with very scraggly clothes, but a heart of gold. He was unable to speak, but some of the kids knew him so they told him to come over and sign the petition. At first he was a bit reluctant but he took a leaflet and read it carefully. After reading the leaflet he went and read every poster, banner and board that we had, constantly pointing at the pictures of practitioners being persecuted. After that he came back to the table and studied closely everything on the table. We had a book on the table that described the persecution in detail and he must have read that for a good 5 minutes, also pointing at the pictures of the practitioners being persecuted. When there was nothing else to read he signed both petitions then stood for a long time watching the practitioners do the exercises. Although this man did not have much money or social status, he was still concerned about the persecuted practitioners in China and did what he could to help them. If anyone ever asks me what Middlesbrough is like, I will always remember the rough looking man who came to the table -- on the outskirts it may be a little run down but inside there is goodness and kindness.