(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held a rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Calgary on July 19, 2021, to condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s 22-year-long persecution of their faith. A local resident joined the rally and helped hold a banner throughout the entire event to express his support.

Falun Dafa practitioners rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Calgary on July 19, 2021, to condemn the CCP’s 22-year-long persecution of their faith.

The practitioners held banners and stood on the sidewalk in front of the consulate. Some drivers honked their horns; others rolled down their windows and gave practitioners thumbs up.

Spokesperson Jeff Yang read a statement from the Canadian Falun Dafa Association. He said, “Twenty-two years ago, on July 20, 1999, the CCP initiated an illegal, brutal, and nationwide persecution to eradicate Falun Gong… Now, hundreds of thousands of cases of torture and rape have been exposed. Hundreds of thousands of practitioners are still being incarcerated and tortured.”

He said that in the past 22 years, most of the international community has remained silent. “Why? Because the CCP uses money, political pressure and propaganda to attack Falun Gong and manipulates the international community to be indifferent to the persecution,” he said.

Mr. Yang urged the Canadian government to publicly call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong and “stand on the right side of history.”

Brutally Persecuted in China

Practitioner Ping Zhang from northeastern China was arrested four times and incarcerated in a forced labor camp for two years for her belief in Falun Dafa.

She said that in one detention center, 38 people were held in a 20-square-meter (215 square foot) room, and the food was so poor it was beyond description. “We ate rough cornmeal and soup made from frozen cabbage, sometimes with mouse bodies floating in it.” Within a month, her weight dropped from 130 pounds to 90 pounds.

In addition to forced labor, she was tortured by being made to sit on a small bench for long periods of time. Her family was broken during her incarceration.

Joining the Rally

David Thompson

David Thompson worked for a well-known oil company. After he retired, he moved into an apartment next to the Chinese Consulate. He said that every time practitioners held an event in front of the Chinese consulate, he could see it and hear it. On July 19, when practitioners' activities began, he decided to join them and helped by holding banners throughout the event.

He explained why he decided to participate: “Falun Dafa practitioners are persecuted in China and subjected to organ harvesting. The CCP is a demon. It enslaves its own people. It should be completely abandoned. What practitioners are doing today is to accelerate the demise of the CCP.”

Thompson emphasized that China is not the CCP: “I love China and the Chinese people, but I hate the CCP.”

He said the CCP has infiltrated Canada extensively with money and tricks, and that the Canadian government should take action. He hopes the CCP will fall soon and that Falun Gong practitioners will have freedom and peace.

When a practitioner asked him to take a break, he said, “No, I want to continue doing this with you. As long as you can stand, I will.”

Background: What is Falun Dafa?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance as well as five gentle exercises—and experienced uplifted health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline's growing popularity as a threat to the CCP's atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.

Under Jiang's personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.