(Clearwisdom.net) Central News Agency reported on July 24 that several thousands Falun Gong practitioners from across the U.S and around the world gathered in Washington DC on Friday (July 23) and formed a human "Great Wall of Courage" to protest the five-year Chinese ruling party's (Jiang group's) persecution of Falun Gong.

The protest organizers said they planed to form a 3-mile-long "Great Wall of Courage" from the World War II Memorial to the Chinese Embassy to protest.

A great number of protesting people wearing yellow T-shirts and holding banners reading, "Falun Dafa" lined up shoulder to shoulder in front of the Memorial. Some sat on the grass to practice the exercises.

In July 1999, the Chinese authorities (Jiang's group) banned Falun Gong as an illegal organization.

Falun Gong practitioners claim that in China, at least 1600 Falun Gong practitioners have died from the persecution. More than 20,000 were sent to forced labor camps. 100,000 were arrested and imprisoned.(1)

(1) At this writing, 1006 are confirmed to have been killed, although the actual number is believed to be much higher. In addition, over 100,000 have been sent to forced labor camps, and many more have been arrested and beaten.