24 Hours Vancouver: Report on Practitioners' Candlelight Vigil Commemorating Gao Rongrong

(Clearwisdom.net) According to a report by Robyn Dickens from 24 Hours Vancouver, Falun Gong practitioners gathered last night outside Vancouver's Chinese Consulate for a candlelight vigil in honor and protest of China's most recent Falun Gong-related death.

The report says that the 54th suspected Falun Gong death in China's Shenyang City in the last five years, Gao Rongrong died June 16 in a Chinese labor camp. She was a practitioner of Falun Gong, a meditative, spiritual practice meant to improve the mind, body and soul.

Sophie Bronwen, who has practiced Falun Gong in Vancouver for nearly six years, said the vigil held was in honor of Rongrong's struggle.

"This persecution has been going on for so long, and, of course, how do you end a persecution? You try and expose it," said Bronwen. "We're trying to gently nudge people awake in the West, (and say) we are complicit in our silence."

The article pointed out that before her death, Rongrong's face was disfigured by continuous electric shocks, allegedly delivered by Chinese police.

According to the report, the Falun Gong protest recently made news in Vancouver when the city received complaints about their signs outside the Chinese Consulate on Granville Street.

Falun Gong member Sue Zhang said the protesters followed city requirements and wonders who raised the issue.

"We just hope (Vancouver) won't bend under the pressure of the Chinese government."

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2005/06/22/1098694-sun.html