With the freezing winter night of -10°C (about 14°F) and a meter and half of snow piled up, practitioners still gathered in front of the Chinese consulate. They attracted the attention of pedestrians and some drivers who slowed down to read the words on the banners.

A local practitioner stated that regardless of rain or shine, practitioners will continue to go to the Chinese consulates on important dates like New Year, Chinese New Year, April 25^th and July 20^th.

Ms. Ma said, “Falun Dafa practitioners around the world are one entity. We’ve heard that practitioners in the United Kingdom also protest in front of the Chinese Consulate around the clock, rain or shine. We all put ourselves in the shoes of those practitioners being persecuted in China. As long as the persecution is still ongoing, we will continue to come to the Chinese consulate and peacefully protest.”

“The environment around us has also changed for the better since we first started the peaceful protest in 2007. The policemen are very compassionate and we’ve also encountered many Japanese businessmen and politicians. My friends are also supportive of what I do each year. They send me Chinese New Year greetings and at the end of each message they would remind me to “keep warm when you head out and stay safe.” A friend also said that he admired my spirit of going to the Chinese consulate every year to peacefully protest.

The practitioners who protest in front of the consulate in Sapporo share the same feeling: The persecution will no longer continue when people fully awaken. When the puzzle pieces are finally put together, dawn will overtake the darkness.

Background: What is Falun Dafa and Why Does the CCP Persecute It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and learned the five gentle exercises, have experienced uplifted health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organisation with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.