(Minghui.org) Chinatown in London, known as “Europe’s First Chinatown,” is located in the center of the bustling Westminster district. It is close to the famous National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, and the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as the English National Opera and high-end shopping.
Four tall archways line the approximately 800-meter-long pedestrian main street and other auxiliary streets, with “London Chinatown” written on them. There are more than 200 restaurants, supermarkets and other shops. It is a must-visit destination for tour buses and attracts millions of tourists every year.
Practitioners have had a booth on Gerrard Street, the main street, for more than 20 years. Rain or shine, they demonstrate the exercises and tell people how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes Falun Dafa.
Practitioners held activities there as usual on Saturday, September 23, 2023, just before the Mid-Autumn Festival. In advance of the holiday, Chinatown was filled with tourists. Many people stopped in front of the booth and read the display boards, watched as practitioners did the exercises, or signed a petition to end the persecution. Some told practitioners that they admired Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
Government Employee: Everyone Has Freedom of Speech
Francesca is a government civil servant who is familiar with the human rights abuses in China. She signed the petition.
She said, “Everyone should be free to express their religious beliefs. I strongly appeal to the Chinese government to give Falun Dafa practitioners their freedom. This is very important.” She said that in the UK we firmly believe that everyone has the right to freedom of speech because we all are free and life is about spirituality and the journey to find peace.
She condemned the CCP for killing people and selling their organs to make money. She said, “Life is not just about money.” She asked practitioners if she could help. The practitioner asked her to tell everyone she knows about the CCP’s persecution or write a letter to her Member of Parliament, requesting support for legislation against the detention of religious believers.
She said with emotion, “I support you and wish you good luck. I also extend my best wishes, thank you!”
Tourist from Jordan: I Fully Support You
Ahmed from Jordan is a civil engineer. He and his friend Huda were happy to see the Falun Dafa booth and he told a practitioner, “I love China and I like Chinese traditional culture very much. I know that the Chinese government is a dictatorship, so I support you fully.”
He praised the practitioners for giving him more information and being there to tell people what was happening in China. He said that he would support anything that was beneficial to improving human rights in China.
Huda, who is an accountant and financial analyst, said that when she was walking on the noisy street and saw people meditating, she wondered how they could be so calm in such a noisy place. She was curious and wanted to learn the exercises. The practitioner invited her to sit on the mat and taught her the sitting meditation. Her friend Ahmed videotaped the entire process. She said she would continue to learn the exercises in the online Falun Dafa class after returning home.
She agreed with the principles of Falun Dafa and said, “Your posters are really good. I saw the three words Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. These are the principles of being a human being. These are very important to me. Honesty, compassion and tolerance–I love learning to practice these.”
Huda signed the petition and told the practitioner: “I know that the goal of signing is to unite the forces of justice. I am willing to support this. I also want to tell others and let them pay attention to humanitarian relief.” She said such good and kind people should not be tortured and killed.
Canadian Tourist: Keep It Up
Alexander from Canada said he started practicing meditation and yoga years ago. He was interested in Falun Dafa and said, “I will try this. I believe that the concepts of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance can help people gain inner peace.”
When he read the content on the display boards he frowned when he learned that practitioners were persecuted by the CCP for meditating. “This is terrible and needs to end.” He said that the CCP was afraid that people would believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and practice it.
He encouraged practitioners to persevere, saying, “Time will prove everything. It is not easy to resist the persecution for more than 20 years. People will one day know that Falun Dafa is right.”
Undergraduate Students Praise Falun Dafa’s Universal Values
Amy and her friend are college students studying art in London. They are interested in meditation and the exercises and asked about local classes. When they learned that the CCP persecutes Falun Dafa and other faith groups, they were appalled. Amy said that everyone should respect each other’s beliefs and not use violence to force people to do things they don’t want to do.
Amy said that practitioners are actually following the traditional path, and she very much agreed with the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. She said she likes traditional things and thought it would be great if the world returned to the past and people had high moral values. She said that if everyone believed in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, the world would be a better place.
Chinese version available
(Clearwisdom)
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