(Clearwisdom.net, December 12, 2005) (Minghui/Clearwisdom correspondent Caiju) At 10 a.m. on December 11, 2005, around one thousand people gathered in Roosevelt Park in Manhattan Chinatown to support 6.2 millions Chinese people issuing statements online to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Many Falun Gong practitioners from the Eastern US, including Washington DC, participated in this rally.
It had snowed twice in December in New York. Practitioner Ms. Li drove for 6 hours from Washington DC to participate. She said, "I participate in the rally because of the CCP's brutal persecution of Falun Gong. It has lasted for six years. I hope more people will understand the evil nature of the CCP and the persecution via reading "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party". For more than a half century, the CCP has persecuted too many Chinese people to death or disability. It is so wicked. To withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations means to choose a good future and not to be an accomplice of theCCP."
Practitioner Ms. Wei said, "Practitioners spreading the Nine Commentaries and participating in related marches and rallies neither intend to overthrow the CCP nor take power. They only want the world's people to know about the evil nature of the CCP."
In the rally, a representative for the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) said, "On November 25, 2005, a policeman He Xuejian, in his 20s, in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province unlawfully interrogated two practitioners: 51-year-old Liu Jizhi and 42-year-old Han Yuzhi. The he raped them. Other police in the substation did not try to stop it, but provided a convenient environment or left them alone. The occurrence of such atrocities is a result of the CCP's instigation and protection of lawless law-enforcement personnel. The CCP fabricates lies to deceive people, breeds hatred and maintains state terrorism with violence."
Representatives from the Global Service Center for Quitting CCP and New York Service Center for Quitting CCP, and democracy activists such as the chairman of the Chinese Democratic Party World Federation, chief editor of Web Digest, and the chairman of China Peace also made speeches at the rally.
After the rally, the participants conducted a grand parade, attracting crowds of people. The procession started with dragon and lion dancing, followed by a drum team, banner team, and ended with a waist drum team. The participants in the parade include many Chinese people as well as westerners of different ethnic origins.
Through the Nine Commentaries and quitting the CCP events, many people have come to know about the CCP's persecution of the Chinese people for more than a half century--and that it is ongoing. A viewer, Mr. Liu, said that he issued a statement withdrawing from the CCP Youth League when the total withdrawals had reached one million.
Ms. Wei from New York pointed out, "The persecution of Falun Gong is ongoing. The CCP continues its systematic, brutal persecution of the Chinese people. According to the Minghui website, so far at least 2792 practitioners have been tortured to death, at least 6000 unlawfully imprisoned and more than 100,000 practitioners unlawfully sent to labor camps.
A Chinese couple said, "The CCP is the worst. We came to the US many years ago because of the CCP's persecution. The CCP can fabricate lies at will based on its own needs."
During and after the parade, many volunteers distributed the Nine Commentaries and other literature in Chinatown.