(Minghui.org) At a rally in Sydney on April 23, 2015, practitioners called for an end to the brutal persecution in China, especially the killing of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience to harvest their organs.

At Martin Place, in the city's business and financial center, they handed out materials, did the exercises, and reenacted different methods of torture used on practitioners in China.

Rally in Sydney on April 23, 2015, to end live organ harvesting in China

“Please Take This Issue to Heart”

Lucy Zhao, coordinator of the Falun Dafa Association in Australia, explained the significance of the event: “Live organ harvesting has been confirmed. And it is happening to real people like you and me.”

She said this issue was a particular concern for Australia, because many Australian citizens' relatives are currently detained in China, and any one of them could end up being the next victim of live organ harvesting.

Pedestrians sign petitions calling for an end to forced organ harvesting

The European Parliament passed a resolution in December 2013, calling for an end to live organ harvesting in China.

David Shoebridge, Member of the Parliament for the State of New South Wales (NSW), submitted over 170,000 signatures to NSW Parliament in November to support a bill to end organ trafficking.

John Deller, organizer of the rally, mentioned the Dateline program on SBS TV that had recently aired the documentary Human Harvest: China's Organ Trafficking. “Please take this issue to heart. Tell your friends, family, and colleagues. Encourage your federal MP to speak up. Australia’s response is not only a test of our sense of justice and fair play – it also lets the people of China know that we truly care about them and our future.”

John Deller, organizer of the rally

Support from Elected Officials

Member of Parliament Craig Kelly is a co-chair of Parliamentarians Against Forced Organ Harvesting. In a letter for the event, he wrote, “The practice of forced organ harvesting is reprehensible and I will not shy away from saying that.” “It is a barbaric and cruel practice that has no place in our world, and it is gratifying to see that all nations are taking strides against it.”

John Hugh, Parramatta City Councilor, said at the rally, “I believe human organ harvesting is happening in China and I also believe that the Chinese government is involved.

“The government of China is not China! I love China, because it is my country of birth and where my ancestors lived. I am standing here to support humanity and hoping people in China can enjoy freedom and live without fear like you and me.”

Parramatta City Councilor John Hugh speaking at the rally

Signe Westerberg, spokesperson for Fairfield-Liverpool Greens, called live organ harvesting “callous, barbaric and disgusting” and “the fact that China can undertake such activities and inhumane treatment of its citizens is totally unacceptable.”

"Awareness is key," Westerberg wrote in her letter to the event. “People need to know this is happening in China, that China chooses to treat its own citizens with such hatred and inhumanity is tantamount to torture and should be addressed by the world court.

“Our government should immediately make it a crime for an Australian citizen to knowingly participate in or reap the benefits of organ harvesting or travel to China for such purposes.”

“The Thought of Harvesting Organs from the Living … Is Unthinkable.”

Rev. Bill Crews AM, minister of the Ashfield Uniting Church Parish Mission and CEO and founder of the Exodus Foundation, said, “The thought of harvesting organs from living people just because of what they believe is unthinkable.”

Rev. Bill Crews AM, minister of the Ashfield Uniting Church Parish Mission and CEO and founder of the Exodus Foundation

“Everybody has the right to believe what they choose as long as it does not harm anyone else. Here today I am 100 percent behind these people."

Sev Ozdowski OAM, former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, also wrote a letter to the rally: “The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which started in 1999, has all the hallmarks of genocide. It was well documented in a report by David Kilgour, former Canadian MP and Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, and human rights lawyer David Matas that Falun Gong practitioners are killed so their corneas, hearts and lungs, livers, and kidneys could be stolen for sale to commercial customers.”

Ozdowski thanked SBS TV for its Dateline program Human Harvest: “It is necessary to publicly expose the crime of organ harvesting in China in order to stop it.”

Sophia Bryskine, contact person for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) in Australia, explained organization's role, “as an international coalition of medical professionals that demand an immediate end to the grossly unethical practice of forced organ harvesting in China.

“China remains the only country in the world where organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience continues as a state sanctioned activity. We demand immediate access for international, independent investigators into China and full transparency of organ sources.”

Remarks from Spectators

Carole from Northern Sydney was shocked to learn about forced organ harvesting. “My husband is from Eastern Europe and I know how bad communism is. When it brainwashes people, a person can lose his soul.”

Joan O’Loughlin, who signed a petition to protest live organ harvesting, told a practitioner that she would contact the member of parliament in her district to follow up on the issue.

“Chinese communists kill people to sell their organs to us! This won't do us any good, either. Our government must help stop this!” O’Loughlin wrote on the petition she signed.