Falun Gong Information Booths Attacked in London

The incidents are believed to be part of a broader campaign orchestrated by Beijing to stop them from speaking out against the regime’s human rights abuses.

Falun Gong practitioners raise awareness of the CCP's persecution of the faith community outside the British Museum in London on Aug. 29, 2019. Yan Ning /The Epoch Times

A group of Asian men has attacked two Falun Gong information booths in central London that sought to shed light on the Chinese regime’s decades-long persecution of the faith community.

The incident, echoing similar harassment campaigns targeting the group’s activities in London and beyond, has raised fresh concerns about Beijing’s efforts to export its repression abroad.

At around 3 p.m. local time on June 4, a Chinese man approached an information stand near the British Museum’s main entrance. Within a few seconds, the man grabbed a display banner tied to a tree and ripped it down, a witness alleged.

“I was caught off guard,” Tan Hongyun, a volunteer handing out leaflets nearby, said in an interview with The Epoch Times on June 8.

“I saw the young man approaching the banner. He stood there looking at it. Then, suddenly, he began tugging on it again and again until he pulled it off the pole.

“When I saw it, I walked quickly toward him and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ He didn’t respond and immediately walked away.”

When Tan tried to stop the man from leaving and to report to the police, another information booth outside the British Museum was also targeted. Two Chinese men yanked down a banner before being stopped by volunteers and others at the site, according to two witnesses who spoke to The Epoch Times.

The incidents came months after another volunteer was assaulted outside the museum while holding a banner calling attention to the Chinese communist regime’s state-sanctioned practice of forced organ harvesting, sparking concerns among British lawmakers.

The UK Falun Dafa Association, which coordinates the information booths, said the latest rounds of sabotage were part of a hatred and intimidation campaign orchestrated by Beijing that aims to stop them from speaking out against the regime’s human rights abuses.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered a systematic campaign to eradicate Falun Gong in 1999. Since then, numerous practitioners have faced constant threats of arrest, arbitrary detention, forced labor, and various forms of physical and psychological abuse for refusing to give up their faith, rights groups and survivors have said.

Setting up information booths is the principal way for practitioners abroad to inform local residents and tourists about the plight of their fellow practitioners in China.

“We chose the British Museum [for the information booths] because it attracts so many people, especially those from China,” John Zhang, a volunteer who witnessed the June 4 incidents, told The Epoch Times.

“We hope to reach more people and help them understand our situation: Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted for living according to truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance,” he added, referring to the three tenets of spiritual meditation practice, which reached at least 70 million Chinese through word of mouth by the late 1990s, before the CCP initiated the persecution.

A destroyed banner after a Falun Gong information booth was targeted outside the British Museum in London on June 4, 2026. Courtesy of John Zhang

Liu Wei, director of the UK Falun Dafa Association, noted that all the methods practitioners use to raise awareness—whether by distributing leaflets, setting up information boards, or talking directly to passersby—are peaceful and protected by law.

“Using violence or threats to disrupt Falun Gong practitioners’ lawful activities to raise awareness of the persecution runs counter to democracy, freedom, and the rule of law that the United Kingdom cherishes,” Liu recently told The Epoch Times.

He called on the British authorities to investigate the incidents and hold those involved accountable.

“We urge the British government to take effective measures to put an end to transnational repression, upholding our society’s rule of law, freedom, and public safety,” Liu said.

The incident in London came just days after Korean police arrested three men who allegedly attacked an information booth in Jeju Island, leaving two elderly practitioners injured.

In the United States, similar assaults were also reported by practitioners in New York and Los Angeles earlier this year.

A Mandarin-speaking Chinese man vandalizes Falun Gong practitioners' information stands in Jeju, South Korea, on June 2, 2026. Courtesy of Falun Gong practitioners in Jeju

The Falun Dafa Information Center views these incidents as part of a broader transnational repression campaign by the CCP.

In a written testimony to the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China for a June 4 hearing, the group warned of the CCP’s growing attempts to silence practitioners worldwide, especially on U.S. soil.

“The implications extend far beyond the Falun Gong community—if the CCP is left unchecked, its tactics targeting Falun Gong could easily be used against any American institution of Beijing’s choosing,” the nonprofit said.

“This poses as a major risk to the U.S. national security and demands strong responses from the U.S. government to counter Beijing’s playbook.”