Den 25 april 1999 höll över 10.000 Falun Gong-utövare en historisk manifestation i Peking för rätten att fritt utöva sin tro. Det var den största sammankomsten av detta slag sedan de sittstrejker som föregick massakern på Himmelska fridens torg ett decennium tidigare.
Manifestationen föranleddes av en period av växande förtryck och arresteringen av 45 Falun Gong-utövare i staden Tianjin, vilket väckte landsomfattande oro för Falun Gong-utövarnas frihet att utöva. Den dagen släppte högt uppsatta tjänstemän till en början de fängslade utövarna och förklarade att det inte skulle bli något förbud mot Falun Gong.
Men detta löfte avbröts abrupt den 20 juli, då det kinesiska kommunistpartiet (KKP) förbjöd Falun Gong och inledde en brutal, landsomfattande kampanj för att utplåna den. Regimens propagandaapparat försökte sedan att retroaktivt framställa denna fridfulla manifestation som ett "anfall" mot regeringen.
27 år senare fortsätter den våldsamma förföljelsen, men det gör också Falun Gong-utövarnas fredliga oliktänkande i Kina. Från att bara utöva sin tro till att utmana orättvisa åtal med hjälp av rättighetsadvokater till att delta i insatser för att utbilda allmänheten och motverka KKP:s propaganda och bedrägeri tar Falun Gong-utövare över hela Kina stora risker för att stoppa förföljelsen och ge större frihet till alla kinesiska medborgare.
För att uppmärksamma denna historiska årsdag har Falun Gong-utövare i Sverige fridfulla manifestationer framför den kinesiska ambassaden och konsulat. Daniel läste upp detta tal till Kinas ambassad vid Gärdet, Stockholm lördag den 25 april 2026.
Exactly 27 years ago, on April 25, 1999, tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Beijing.
to peacefully defend the right to live and practice in peace, free from the regime's oppression.
It marked the beginning of the peaceful efforts by the victims of the purges to counter the communist regime's propaganda and persecution.
Today we have gathered here outside the embassy to remember that day and to tell people what is truly happening in China even today.
Falungong, or Falun Dafa, is a spiritual meditation practice that teaches people to follow the universal principles
truth, goodness, and patience.
Practiced by millions of people around the world, especially in China, where it was publicly introduced in 1992.
However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could not tolerate such a peaceful exercise.
Especially the party leader Jiang Zemin, who wanted to destroy the method regardless of everything.
In 1996, KKP began suppressing the practice by banning fallungång books, blackening it in newspapers, and disrupting practitioners at training sites.
The anti-government demonstrators adhered to their principles and responded only with peaceful demonstrations.
Yet despite the oppression, the method only became more popular.
Many people experienced improved health after starting to practice fallungång, and many found meaning in life and became better people.
By securing a place to practice falling, they wished for nothing more than for more people to experience this joy.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) became extremely enraged by the Falun Gong movement's success, and in July 1999, Jiang Zemin ordered the initiation of a large-scale persecution to completely destroy Falun Gong through violence.
Innocent people have been tortured to death, and even more families have been destroyed forever.
To finance the persecution, KKP even harvests organs from imprisoned dissidents, and they earn billions by murdering thousands of innocent people every year.
But not everyone was willing to carry out the persecution, so the party leader Jiang Zemin replaced moral officials with corrupt individuals and bribed them to push forward the persecution.
It was the first domino and the beginning of KKP's decline, and we are already seeing the effects.
Corruption and distrust in China are worse than ever, and 400 million people have today left the Communist Party after realizing the horrors the party has committed.
By 2026, the world had recognized the scale and brutality of the persecution against the vulnerable, and had begun to act.
Many countries have banned their citizens from traveling to China for organs, as these are taken from prisoners of conscience.
The U.S. is currently imposing sanctions on KKP's officials while independent journalists work around the clock to expose yet more crimes against humanity.
All these people have arrived at the same insight.
If KKP dares to act this way against its own people, what won't they dare to do against us?
Persecution against defectors continues to this day.
Every day that passes, more people die from torture and organ harvesting.
We have gathered outside China's embassy to draw attention to the persecution, just as practitioners did in Beijing 27 years ago.
