(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in Germany participated in the 35^th Cultural Festival on Willy-Brandt-Platz in Lunen on June 30, 2018. They told about the benefits of practicing Falun Gong and demonstrated the five exercises on stage. Elected officials and local residents followed along to learn them.

Falun Gong practitioners demonstrate the exercises.

The exercise demonstration attracts a large audience.

On this beautiful sunny Saturday, crowds of people converged on Willy-Brandt-Platz for the joint celebration of their Cultural Festival and “!SING - Day of Song.” Falun Gong practitioners set up a booth to tell people about the benefits of Falun Gong and the fact that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is persecuting the practice in China.

Six elected officials, including Ina Scharrenbach, Minister of Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Construction, and Equality of North Rhine-Westphalia, came to the Falun Gong booth in the afternoon and said they wanted to try the exercises.

Six government officials learn the second Falun Gong exercise.

They learned the Falun Standing Stance, the second exercise, by copying the movements of holding the “law wheel” in four positions. They also learned the meaning of “Heshi” and “Jieyin.” Practitioners gave them origami lotus flowers that said, “Falun Dafa Is Great” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Is Great.”

The people in Lunen have had a chance to learn about Falun Gong at every cultural festival over the past few years. Falun Gong won Second Place for its popularity at the festival last year. Practitioners have also been telling people the facts about Falun Gong at local events and in the media. The locals and officials know the benefits of Falun Gong. A group has met in a park every weekend since last June to do the exercises together.

Ms. Liu and her fellow practitioners were the first ones to introduce Falun Gong to Lunen 13 years ago. She said that she started practicing Falun Gong in 2003. She used to be disabled. She had no feeling in one arm and couldn't lift it. But she was able to lift her arm the first time she practiced Falun Gong. After benefiting from the practice personally, she hoped to introduce this great practice to more people.

Practitioners demonstrated the exercises on a stage at around 2 p.m., which enveloped the entire plaza in a sense of tranquility. Many people asked where they could learn the exercises. Some learned how to fold paper lotus flowers at the Falun Gong booth. An elderly gentleman signed a petition calling for an end to the Chinese Communist Party's crime of harvesting organs from living practitioners. He commented, “It's absolutely unacceptable! What you are doing is very significant!”