(Clearwisdom.net) From 2pm to 10pm of July 19, Falun Gong practitioners in the San Francisco Bay Area held a photo exhibition and candlelight vigil to expose the Jiang regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the past five years and to call on the world to work together to stop the persecution and bring Jiang Zemin to justice.

Calling for bringing Jiang to justice

Calling for bringing Jiang to justice

Demanding the release of Charles Lee

Banner calling for an end to the persecution

Sending righteous thoughts

Sending righteous thoughts

Ms. Liu, a participant in the April 25 1999 appeal in Beijing, came to the event from Sacramento. After the persecution started in 1999, she went to appeal many times and was frequently harassed by police. She came to California in October 2000. She said that many of her fellow practitioners have been killed as a result of persecution since 1999, many sent to labor camps and some forced to leave their homes to avoid being arrested. She said that the purpose of the candlelight vigil was to commemorate fellow practitioners who had been killed and to raise the awareness of the persecution so that people can help to put an end to it.

She also said: "We practice Falun Gong and are good people following the teaching of 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.' We have also benefited a great deal physically through practicing Falun Gong. For example, I had problems all over my body before I practiced Falun Gong, something that doctors could not diagnose. After I started to practice Falun Gong, all of the problems disappeared, and I don't need to go to see the doctor anymore. I have practiced Falun Gong for 12 years and have not needed to take even one tablet of medicine since I started."

She said, "It's such a good practice and so many have benefited from it. I really can't understand why they would persecute Falun Gong. It is impossible to force us to give up our belief in 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.'"

Mr. Lu of the Bay Area said that the persecution has lasted 5 years and the Jiang regime has used all kinds of extremely brutal torture methods in order to try to force practitioners to give up Falun Gong. As a result, more than 1000 practitioners have been killed. In contrast to the brutality and Jiang's state terrorism, Falun Gong practitioners have used peaceful and rational approaches to raise awareness of the persecution and call for an end to the persecution.

Mr. Lu said that more and more people have awakened to the truth because of the Falun Gong practitioners' continuous effort in clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution. Some in China have started to publish articles on the Internet to support Falun Gong and condemn the persecution. Outside of China, many government organizations at different levels have condemned the persecution.

He added that practitioners have held many anti-torture exhibitions, which have received great support from the public, and many media outlets have reported the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Many people have signed their names to support the practitioners. More people will speak out against the persecution as practitioners do better in clarifying the truth more broadly and comprehensively.