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Falun Gong practitioners held a rally and parade on April 28, 2007 in London to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the "April 25 Peaceful Appeal." The rally and parade also condemned the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) eight years of persecution and its crime of harvesting organs from living people, and supported the 20 million people having withdrawn from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
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Falun Gong practitioners hold a rally and parade in London to expose the CCP's persecution |
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At 11:00 a.m. Falun Gong practitioners held a rally opposite the Chinese Consulate in London. Chairman of the UK Falun Dafa Association Mr. Peter Jia Hao, Vice President of the UK Falun Gong Friends John Dee, and Falun Gong practitioner representative Jiang Xinxia spoke at the rally. Lancaster TD MP, David Marshall MP and Mark Hunter MP and others sent letters to express their support.
Expose the CCP's Brutal Persecution
Peter introduced that Falun Gong is a peaceful cultivation method with an emphasis on "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." In 1999, more than 100 million people practiced Falun Gong in China, the CCP regime could not tolerate Chinese people's belief in Falun Gong and launched a persecution campaign. The CCP has been brutally persecuting Chinese people. During Falun Gong practitioners' eight years of peaceful resistance against the persecution, there has never been a single case in which Falun Gong practitioners take violent action.
Mr. John Dee said that the CCP must be held accountable for launching the most serious persecution in human history. The CCP attempts to make use of the Olympic Games to propagate itself. He called upon all governments to exert pressure on the CCP, and ask the CCP to stop the persecution.
Ms. Jiang Xinxia, who was detained by the CCP, told of her painful experience of being persecuted in China. Ms. Jiang was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on July 21, 1999. The CCP police deprived her of sleep for two consecutive weeks, forcing her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong. The police also went to her hometown to threaten her aging mother. When her mother learned that her daughter would be sentenced to eight to ten years of imprisonment, she was so worried that her hair turned white overnight.
Ms. Jiang was arrested for the second time in 2004 for spreading the facts about Falun Gong. The police brutally tortured her and poisoned her with unknown drugs. Ms. Jiang recalled, "The police put some unknown drugs into my food. After I ate it, I was unable to control myself, and felt very hungry. I drooled like an animal. Later, I was extremely weak, and collapsed to the ground." She said that the CCP's persecution once made her feel that she would rather die than live. She hoped the staff working in the Chinese Consulate would clearly see the CCP's evil nature, bravely quit the CCP and not longer be associated with it.
UK Citizen Calls for Rescue of Her Younger Sister
Ms. Liang Zhenni, who has recently calling for rescue of her younger sister who is illegally detained by the CCP, especially came from Nottingham to take part in this activity. Ms. Liang thought such an activity of exposing the CCP's persecution is very significant. She said that the CCP has turned its persecution of Falun Gong from publicly to covertly in order to avoid condemnation. But the persecution has continued over the past years. People who have not learned about the true situation had the misunderstanding that the persecution did not exist. Ms. Liang gave an example of how her younger sister and her brother-in-law were arrested prior to the 2007 Chinese New Year for practicing Falun Gong. Without going through any legal procedure, they were sentenced to two years of forced labor. This fact proves that the CCP has never stopped its persecution.
When talking about the relationship between exposing the persecution and supporting the withdrawals from the CCP organizations, Ms. Liang said that the CCP has denied its persecution of the Chinese people, particularly its heinous act of harvesting organs from living people that was recently exposed to the public. Since the CCP came into power, it has never stopped killing Chinese people, only the approaches are different. She pointed out that only if the CCP crumbles, can these problems be resolved, including human rights issues and persecution of beliefs. She hoped that the Chinese people could understand this and quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
People Passing by Are Moved
After the rally, attendees held a parade holding display boards and banners. The parade procession set off from the Chinese Consulate, marching through busy Oxford Streets, traversing London's Chinatown and ending at the St. Martin Cathedral. The parade attracted attention from passersby.
A Chinese named Li Ming told the reporter, "The parade moved
me. In my view, outside China, it is quite rare to see such strength.
I've been to many countries, Falun Gong has a great influence around
the world. I estimate that under the drive of the world's
'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' movement, the Communist Party's
tyranny will not last long in China." Mr. James from Cambridge thought
that it was a good thing for Chinese people to quit the CCP
organizations. If nobody supports the CCP, the CCP will die.
A photo exhibit was held on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at Garden Corner Square in Chinatown, San Francisco. Falun Gong practitioners from the Bay Area hosted it to clarify the facts about Falun Gong. After viewing the photos, many tourists learned about the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. They felt that the CCP is too horrible, and supported Falun Gong practitioners' efforts in countering the persecution.
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Falun Gong practitioners frequently come to Garden Corner Square in San Francisco's Chinatown to practice the exercises and clarify the facts about Falun Gong. That day, some practitioners were doing the exercises, and other practitioners clarified the truth about Falun Gong to tourists. Some people followed practitioners doing the exercises, and a tourist said that he would reveal the persecution in the media.
Julie and Karen who traveled to San Francisco were attracted by the peaceful exercise scene. They said that they felt quite comfortable upon seeing Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises. They also said that they knew that Falun Gong is a spiritual cultivation practice, and is persecuted in China. But they did not know why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes Falun Gong.
Practitioners explained to them about how the CCP controls Chinese people's thoughts and beliefs, and forces people to accept "atheism," otherwise, Chinese people's beliefs are prohibited and even subjected to suppression and persecution. Different from other persecuted groups, during the nearly eight years of persecution, Falun Gong has been persistently clarifying the facts about Falun Gong to the international community, and exposing the CCP's evil nature. The two ladies said they understood what the practitioners had explained to them and wished practitioners good luck.
San Francisco resident Ron viewed photos depicting the persecution that Falun Gong practitioners have been endured in mainland China, and said that it was terrible that the CCP police tortured practitioners so cruelly.
After looking at the photo depicting Falun Gong practitioners being arrested for doing the exercises on Tiananmen Square, Ron said that those practitioners did the exercises on Tiananmen just the same as practitioners doing the exercises here, but they were arrested, that was just too much.
When learning that the Chinese Consulate hired local thugs to harass Falun Gong practitioners' activities in Chinatown, Ron was shocked that the CCP even exported the persecution to the US.
Several people from Taiwan said that they had read reports on the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong in the US, and just now they had learned that Falun Gong practitioners have been suffering brutal persecution in Mainland China. If practitioners refused to give up practicing Falun Gong, the CCP police would shock the practitioners' faces with electric batons and disfigured them. They said that Taiwan is free, but the CCP even attempts to turn Taiwan into the same situation as in Mainland China.
After learning the CCP's crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners and cremating their bodies to destroy the evidence, French tourist Agostinho said, "It is too cruel and disgusting! It is the 21st century, and there are still such things happening. If I can do something to support your cause, I'll definite do it."
He said he worked in media in Paris, and would help more people
learn about this after returning to France.
On April 28, 2007, the Veterans' Association in Quincy held a public forum entitled "Exposing the CCP's Harvesting Organs from Living Falun Gong Practitioners" in Boston. Mr. Michael Tsang, Michael David Feltz and Mr. Dee Lawson, the chairman of the Veteran's Association in Quincy, gave speeches at the forum, calling for the end of the organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.
Mr. Tsang and Mr. Feltz
Mr. Dee Lawson, chairman of the Veteran's Association in Quincy
Mr. Tsang pointed out that many people have illusions about the CCP and think that economic development will bring democracy to China. He said that many businessmen are clearly aware of the human rights violations in China, but they still invest there. Mr. Tsang said that although China doesn't look like a communist country on the surface, actually people still don't have freedom there.
He pointed out that the American people don't understand the evil nature of the CCP, and if they want to know what the CCP is really like, they should read the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, which influenced 21 million Chinese people to quit the CCP.
Mr. Lawson pointed out that the CCP has tried to open the gate of America and control the resource in the world with economic tricks. He said that the CCP always tries to cover its brutality with sham friendship, and the sister-city arrangement that Dengfeng City in Henan Province made with Quincy recently is an example.
Mr. Feltz clarified the facts that Jiang's faction persecutes Falun Gong and harvests organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. According to the investigation, the organ harvesting started in 2001, and peaked in 2002. Mr. Feltz quoted the investigation report written by Mr. David Kilgour and Mr. David Matas to prove the existence of the organ harvesting. He called upon attendees to stand up and help stop the persecution.