(Minghui.org) Nearly 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners rallied at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan on April 26, 2014 at the 15^th anniversary of the April 25 ^th peaceful demonstration. The event called for an end to the 15-year persecution in China, and in particular the crimes of forced organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.

The Parliamentarians Against Forced Organ Harvesting (PAFOH) Asia branch was established on April 20, 2014, with 27 legislators from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao as the founding members. The members joined the rally with recorded speeches and renewed their commitment to ending the heinous crimes by leveraging their representation of constituents across regions and countries.

Practitioners also set up truth-clarification posters to inform locals and tourists about the facts of Falun Gong and the persecution at the Memorial Hall, a famous landmark and tourist attraction.

Nearly 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners rallied at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan on April 26, 2014 at the 15 ^th anniversary of the April 25 ^th peaceful demonstration.

The banner reads: “Stop Persecuting Falun Gong!”

Attorney Theresa Chu of the Taiwan Falun Gong Human Rights Lawyers Organization announced the establishment of the PAFOH Asia branch. She called upon all governments to:

• Expel or deny entry of or file lawsuits against those who have participated in live organ harvesting. • Demand that the United Nations form a committee to investigate the CCP’s crimes of organ harvesting and to prosecute the main perpetrators in the International Criminal Court. • Condemn the crimes of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners and spread the facts via all possible channels. Urge people outside of China not to have organ transplants in China.

Practitioners demonstrated the five Falun Gong exercises on April 26, 2014 at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.

Locals and Tourists Voice Support

Tourists from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore stopped to read the posters about the facts of Falun Gong.

A Chinese tourist from Gansu Province gave the practitioners a thumbs up: “Good job! Everyone should have their freedom of belief.”

Another tourist from Jiangsu Province read the posters and said, “There must be a reason that so many persevere in their belief of Falun Gong after such a long ordeal. I believe Falun Gong is good.”

Ms. Zheng, a 90-year-old Taipei resident, cried upon seeing the pictures on the posters. “The persecution is such a heinous crime,” she said, “Heaven is watching, and the CCP will meet with its retribution.”

April 25 ^th Demonstration Sparked Interest in Falun Gong in Taiwan

Mr. Chang Ching-Hsi, Director of Taiwan Falun Dafa Association, spoke at the rally

Mr. Chang Ching-Hsi, Director of Taiwan Falun Dafa Association, said at the rally that the April 25 peaceful demonstration was the start for many Taiwanese to become curious about Falun Gong, and some even joined the practice.

Mr. Tsai Shouren, an education professional, started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. He remembered very well that on April 26, 1999, 25 Taiwanese showed up at his exercise site at the Taipei Youth Park and asked to learn Falun Gong, upon seeing the news of the peaceful demonstration on April 25. Prior to that, Falun Gong was not a household name in Taiwan.

Background

Over 10,000 practitioners quietly demonstrated in Beijing, asking that the law reaffirm their right to practice and that a number of practitioners detained by police in Tianjin be released. The 10,000 left peacefully later that day, after the then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji met with Falun Gong representatives. Zhu agreed to release the Tianjin practitioners and gave assurances that the government did not oppose Falun Gong.