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At noon on October 12, 2005, practitioners in Washington DC held a press conference in front of the Chinese Embassy to call for an end to the recent new wave of arrests in China. At the conference, practitioners read the "Falun Dafa Association Announcement". (/emh/articles/2005/10/9/65726.html)
Many Chinese and English media covered the event.
Practitioner Mr. Zhang stated that recently, many "illegal arrests" of Falun Gong practitioners have occurred in Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, Liaoning Province, Beijing, Hebei Province, Shandong Province, Ningxia, Anhui Province and Guangdong Province. Death cases of practitioners due to torture have been disclosed continuously. These are new crimes committed by the Chinese Communist Regime (CCP). The instigators of the crimes are members of former dictator Jiang's faction: Zeng Qinghong and Luo Gan.
Ms. Weixun Li, who was rescued to the USA with the help of the US Congress, State Department and other non-governmental organizations, gave a speech on her suffering in China. She said, "For persisting in my belief in Truth, Compassion, Tolerance, and clarifying the truth to the world's people, I was arrested and sent to prison. I was tortured both physically and mentally. My family was broken up. My brother was sentenced to prison for helping innocent Falun Gong practitioners, and he is till imprisoned."
She further pointed out, "What I suffered is just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted. During the last six-years of peaceful resistance, Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have suffered immense hardships, but continued to explain the facts to the world's people, and have helped many Chinese people to awaken. Many people refused to participate in the persecution after learning the truth. My rescue to America is a witness to the power of truth. It is the righteous act of the international community after learning the facts of Falun Gong."
Practitioner Ms. Ge gives a speech
Practitioner Ms. Ge said, "Since Jiang Zemin initiated the bloody persecution on July 20, 1999, practitioners in Washington DC have kept clarifying the truth in front of the Chinese Embassy every day, including in the cold winter and hot summer, and on rainy or windy days. Six years have passed and western people now know the facts about Falun Gong. The persecution of Falun Gong is doomed to fail. In over a dozen countries, Jiang Zemin, Zeng Qinghong, Luo Gan and other culprits in the persecution have been sued in courts. We practitioners in Washington DC would like to tell those who are still following Jiang, Zeng or Luo in the persecution to stop committing crimes immediately."
At the press conference, practitioners read the announcement of the Falun Dafa Association on October 9 in both English and Chinese.
The announcement states, "At this critical historical moment, the Falun Dafa Association has made a special announcement: From today on, overseas Falun Gong practitioners will file civil or criminal lawsuits against all important government or CCP officials who participate in or continue to implement the persecution of Falun Gong and as a result, commit new crimes in addition to those they have already perpetrated against Falun Gong."
For those Chinese officials who participated in the persecution in the past but want to correct their mistakes, the announcement states, "Even for those who have committed wrongdoings, there is still an opportunity for them to abandon the evil path and choose to be good. For all those who have committed crimes against Falun Gong but want now to correct their mistakes, they can submit, under safe circumstances, a guarantee statement or regret letter to Minghui (Clearwisdom Net) or to any regional Falun Dafa Association to be archived. We will not investigate the various crimes of those who are determined to correct their mistakes. However we will continue to monitor their actions."
The press conference captured the attention of many media in Washington DC. Reporters from New Tang Dynasty TV, UPI, Sound of Hope, AFP, Radio Free Asia, and The Epoch Times covered the event.
On October 9, 2005, there was an outdoor concert at Niagara Falls, a city 150 kilometers southwest of Toronto. Many Chinese people planned to attend. Therefore, several Toronto practitioners and I decided to clarify the truth there.
Chinese Consulate "Invites" Falun Gong to the Concert
Several days before the concert, Falun Gong practitioners received a fax message from the Chinese consulate. The message read:
"On October 9 or 12, there is going to be an outdoor concert by the China Symphony on the open-air stage of the Hilton Hotel... To prevent Falun Gong and Democratic organizations to have the chance to promote themselves, this concert will be kept as a secret without public advertisement. The local Chinese Associations have already received notice to organize members to attend the concert. If Falun Gong also attends the event, there will be banners and messages in the video footage. It will be difficult to broadcast it later to China."
After receiving this "Notice," Falun Gong practitioners set up banners and truth-clarification boards at all entrances to the concert before it began. They brought flyers to hand out and waited for the people to arrive.
"Falun Dafa Is Good" banners at all entrances to the concert venue
"Falun Gong Is Here Too"
When they saw the Falun Dafa banners, some people were pleasantly surprised and said, "Falun Gong is here too." Many people accepted the truth-clarification materials and thanked our practitioners.
One man came out from the concert and talked to a practitioner, "Can you give me four more booklets? I have four friends inside and they wanted to read it." The practitioners gave him four and he thanked them and returned to the concert.
Reading truth-clarification materials at the concert
During the performance, a father with a baby in his arms came out and said to a practitioner, "The paper of my booklet is thin and the characters are too small for me to read. Can you give me a hardcover copy?" The practitioner searched in his backpack and finally found one. He said, "You are lucky. This is my last one. Here you are." The father was excited and said, "Thank you very much! I will take good care of it."
Another audience member asked for two booklets and said, "I will mail one booklet to my uncle in China. The Communist party is very evil."
Listening to the practitioners' truth-clarification
"I Will Wait for You at the Entrance with the 'Falun Dafa is Good' Banner"
Because all entrances to the concert venue had Falun Dafa banners and truth clarification display boards, the musicians, audience and staff members could all meet the Falun Gong practitioners. Some staff members took the truth-clarification materials and quickly put them in their pocket.
One woman was talking on her cell phone. "I will wait for you at the entrance with the 'Falun Dafa is good' banner. Oh, where you are also has 'Falun Dafa is Good.' If you don't see me, try another entrance with a "Falun Dafa is Good' banner."
"I Want to Mail the Photo to Friends in China"
A Chinese family with five people of three generations took many truth-clarification materials when they entered the concert venue. As they were leaving, they stood by the "Falun Dafa is Good" banner to take photos. I asked them if they knew about Falun Dafa. The 10-year-old granddaughter said, "Yes. And we know quite a lot. We just emigrated from Mainland China not long ago. I want to mail the photos to my friends in China and tell them that I met Falun Gong at Niagara Falls."
 Reading the truth clarification display board |
 Reading about the truth |
 Clarifying the truth to a policeman in a pleasant conversation |
"I Will Accept this 'Thanksgiving' Gift"
When the practitioners were passing out truth-clarification materials, they would tell people, "Please come to understand Falun Gong," or "Free DVD for [Canadian] 'Thanksgiving'".
One audience member said, "Now, the Mainland Chinese all know the truth of Falun Gong. Your TV network is powerful. It broadcasts to China."
Another middle-aged man said, " I just came out of China and I know a lot about this. I will accept this 'Thanksgiving' gift."
Meeting a Classmate of a Decade Ago
One practitioner was distributing truth-clarification materials at an entrance and met an old classmate that the practitioner had not seen for over ten years. The classmate was surprised and said, "Are you still practicing Falun Gong? I thought you all quit." As he was leaving, the practitioner wanted to give him a truth-clarification booklet, but the classmate pointed to his pocket and said, "I already got one at the other entrance."
A Comment from an American Businessman
An American tourist came to the display board and talked to a practitioner. "I am a businessman and I had invested in China before so I know about the Communist Party. It not only wants your money to stay in China but it also forces you to follow its bad regulations. If you don't follow them, it will make it so that you cannot do business in China. The Communist Party needs to disintegrate; otherwise, the Chinese people will never have a good government.
"Why Can't We Find the Entrance?"
When the concert was about to end, an older couple who looked like Chinese officials came up to me on the other side of the road. They asked, "We've looked for a long time but can't find the entrance. We only hear the music, but how can we enter the concert venue?" I told them to go directly to gate with the 'Falun Dafa is Good' banner.
I handed them some truth-clarification materials and said, "Please take this opportunity to understand Falun Gong." They hesitated for a second and looked at me. Finally, they accepted it with a smile and said, "Thank you."
"You Have Been Working Hard!"
At 4:30 p.m., the concert ended. As they were leaving, the audience met the Falun Gong practitioners again. Some people who didn't get the truth-clarification materials before the concert now had another opportunity. Some audience members said to the practitioners in a friendly manner, "You have been working hard!"
On the afternoon of September 24, 2005, practitioners on Ghanali Island in southern Spain collected signatures in the city centre to protest the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The practitioners divided into two groups; one demonstrated the exercises and the other handed out leaflets and talked to people who wanted to learn more.
People look at the truth-clarification poster boards attentively
 Learning more facts |
 Signing to support effort to stop the persecution |
The practitioners made a lot of eye-catching banners and exhibition boards to allow people to see the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party and the truth about the persecution. After looking at the banners and the information on the exhibition boards, people said that they were unable to imagine such a cruel suppression of people as the trampling of human rights that is taking place in China. Some people found out more information about Falun Gong from our practitioners. They were shocked and sympathized very much with those who were persecuted. People could not understand why one would suffer such cruel persecution for practicing Falun Gong.
At the other end of the square, another group was holding an activity as well. A young girl in that group left her activity and came to take a look at the practitioners' exhibition boards. When she saw the pictures of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, she was deeply shocked. Before leaving, she not only signed her name but also took a petition with her in order to collect signatures from her colleagues.
When the girl came back, the petition was full. She told the practitioners: "My sister was adopted from China by my parents, yet I did not have an opportunity to know that such a terrible thing was happening in China until now. Facing the persecution of the Chinese people by the Chinese Communist Party, we cannot keep silent. We should call upon the Communist Party to stop the persecution. I believe everything that you said. Good luck to you."
Some Chinese people passed by. Some of them did not want to see the pictures and understand Falun Gong because of the lies and propaganda that the CCP has flooded Chinese society with. Some dared not approach practitioners out of fear of the Communist Party. Thus, the practitioners approached them and gave them some information. A number of Chinese walked closer to look at the pictures. When they saw the pictures of the cruel torture, they were very shocked.
A Caucasian practitioner gave a handout to a young Chinese man who was very interested in the posters and said to him in Chinese: "Falun Gong is good." The young Chinese man looked at the Spaniard with a high-bridged nose and curly hair in surprise and took the leaflet. The Caucasian practitioner said to him with a smile again: "Falun Gong is good." He responded with a smile and nodded in agreement.