Around 500 people gathered in the Bundesplatz (Federal square) in Bern, Switzerland to pray and raise awareness about thousands of innocent Christians who are imprisoned, abducted, tortured, silenced or killed every year.

The Religious Freedom Working Group of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance SEA-RES, along with several Christian entities, organised the demonstration under the motto “We will not be silent".

The aim was to “remind the public that the persecution of Christians is an often forgotten tragedy and to urge politicians to act”, said the organisers.

Symbolic cemetery

The square, located in front of the Swiss Parliament, was transformed into a symbolic cemetery with 500 wooden crosses, 1,000 roses, and a cloth about 50 metres long where the names of hundreds of Christians who recently lost their lives for their faith were written.

There was a time for testimonies of Christians who have experienced persecution and a flashmob in which almost everyone present took part.

The participants prayed for the persecuted Christians and ended up praying the Lord's Prayer in the four national languages of the country. Passers-by were invited to place a rose next to one of the crosses.

An urgent call

Sacha Ernst, director of the Action for Persecuted Christians and the Needy (AVC),one of organisations behind the event, denounced that the number of persecuted Christians worldwide had tripled in the last twelve years.

“What are the offences of these people?”, asked Ernst, warning that “the persecution of Christians will not stop at Europe's gates”. He urged the media, politics, society and participants in the event to shed light on this injustice, to put human rights before economic interests, not to remain indifferent but to act.

Spoken-word artist Stefan Fischer, alias “Sent”, called on the people present on the Bundesplatz to pray: “Sometimes you think that all that's left is to pray. No, let's pray first and urgently!”.