On Saturday, August 3, 2002, Falun Dafa practitioners from Southeast Queensland, Australia gathered together in Logan City, a few minutes south of Brisbane, to celebrate Falun Dafa Day. It was a sunny, warm winter's day in Queensland and the shopping mall we were holding our celebration in was teeming with shoppers. The mall management had been extremely open and friendly towards us. After talking with two practitioners and reading about Falun Dafa and the severe persecution spearheaded by Jiang Zemin in China, the manager warmly offered his facility for this event and any future activities we might wish to hold there. The son of a practitioner also works at a shop in the mall and the manager was quite impressed by his manner.

Demonstrating exercises

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á A portable stage was set up for us immediately in front of one of the busiest stores in the mall. It was also a walk through area for getting to other parts of the mall, and many families doing their Saturday shopping were passing through. We started setting up our display at 9:00 am and decorated the stage with many brightly coloured lotuses. The 20-minute exercise demonstrations began shortly after 10:00 am as six practitioners at a time demonstrated the exercises on stage and then sent forth righteous thoughts on the hour and half hour continuously throughout the day until 4:00 pm. Practitioners rotated between being on stage, manning the two information tables, and talking with people who stopped to watch the activities. One practitioner was doing Chinese calligraphy for children, which was very popular. We also displayed over thirty of the "Journey of Falun Dafa" photos along with numerous posters and banners explaining the essence of Falun Dafa's principles. The entire setting attracted many people.

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Opening Ceremony speech

At 11:00 am, a short ceremony was held celebrating "Truthfulness--Compassion--Forbearance" in Logan City. The spokesperson for Queensland briefly explained to the people gathered there what Falun Dafa is, the history of Falun Dafa in Queensland and the many benefits people had experienced over the years practicing Falun Dafa. Two Proclamations and Certificates of Appreciation were also read out from the Deputy Mayor and one of the Councillors.

Sending forth righteous thoughts Information table

Hundreds of people stopped to watch the exercise demonstrations and speak with practitioners throughout the day. The interest level was very high and most of the shoppers took literature. Although some people had heard about Falun Dafa and the persecution in China, many didn't know anything about this peaceful practice and were quite shocked to learn about the brutal persecution of practitioners by Jiang. People often commented about the wonderful feeling of peacefulness they experienced just watching the exercises. It is completely beyond their understanding how anyone could persecute such a peaceful and beneficial practice. This clearly indicates that the evil forces have lost their previous strong negative influence over people outside of China.

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Category: April 25 Events