Practitioners and supporters of Falun Dafa from all Balkan countries gather in front of the Chinese embassy in Sofia.

They protest against the persecution of the movement in China.

Wei Liu, a practitioner from Germany, makes a statement in front of the embassy. She talks about how she was detained in a labor camp for following the practice and how practitioners were being tortured, killed and their organs sold for profit by the Chinese communist regime.

An open letter to the Bulgarian government is read in front of the Chinese embassy as well as the foreign ministry, the National Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the National Palace of Culture.

The letter makes an appeal to the Bulgarian government to not fall under the pressure of the Chinese Communist Party and openly reject the crimes against Falun Gong and expose human rights abuses in China.

The rally continues through the main streets of Sofia, ending in front of the National Palace of Culture.

Emil Cohen from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Edwin Sugarev, a former MP, and Ivan Kostadiov from the Green Political Party, express their support and assure actions against the persecution.

We spoke to a member of the Bulgarian Falun Dafa Association. She shares her view about the persecution and the reaction of the people in this area of Europe.

[Kremena Krumova, Bulgarian Falun Dafa Association]:
"We have gathered from Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Ukraine, Spain, Austria and even from the United States from all Balkan countries and many other countries. When we inform people in the streets in Bulgaria about the facts of organ harvesting in China, that is done by the communist regime to Falun Gong practitioners, most of the people are very shocked. They can’t believe, they can’t accept the fact that it’s happening in China. But after this, they remember the recent communist past in Bulgaria, where people were also put in labor camps and killed for their beliefs."

The vice president of The Romanian Falun Dafa Association, Kristina Furman,hopes the Balkan people’s actions will have a positive impact.

[Kristina Furman, Romanian Falun Dafa Association]:
"We came here to give support to this rally and this parade for the stop of the Falun Dafa persecution in China. All the people are signing petitions, and with all this, we can finally go to governments when we have millions of signatures in every country, and this will be something. And I think that even the fact that someone is positioning himself on the side of the good is also doing something."

Tsvetan Toshkov, NTD, Sofia, Bulgaria.