More than ten practitioners have been on hunger strike for 72 hours in front of Capitol Hill in Canada, condemning the atrocities

(Clearwisdom.net) After the facts about the secret concentration camp at Sujiatun, and the mass killing of Falun Gong practitioners were disclosed, twelve practitioners from Toronto came to Capitol Hill in Ottawa for a 72 hour hunger strike from March 15-17. Six or seven of them are over 65 years old, and they are all volunteers. This is their story:

I personally experienced the Chinese Communist regime's evil persecution against practitioners. In December 2000, I went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and was put into a brainwashing class. Ever since, my family had no peace. Personnel from the local police station and 610 Office came to harass me at my home very often. In October 2002, they wanted to take me to a brainwashing class again, so I was forced to become homeless to avoid further persecution. The atrocities in Sujiatun are something that you can't keep silent about as long as you're conscientious. I really wanted to shout in the street when I first heard about it, to let all people know.

I started to feel tired on the third day of the hunger strike, and felt very hungry in the afternoon. I couldn't even move my legs when distributing materials, and started to feel nauseous at around 70 hours. At 72 hours, I did throw up a bit when I tried to eat something, but we did pretty well in the whole process.

We were supposed to be back on Friday (March 17). We were told that there would be a parade in Montreal on March 19. We planned to rest for a day on Saturday, but we ended up going to distribute Falun Gong informational materials on the March 18 in Chinatown of Ottawa, and distributing materials at Capitol Hill in the afternoon, and we also participated in the grand parade for Saint Patrick's Day at 9:00 a.m. on the 19^th in Montreal. Other practitioners and I held up a huge banner that read, "Falun Dafa is Great." It worked out well. People were shouting, clapping, and the responses were very good.

When I was in China, the police often called to harass and threaten me. Sometimes they called during the night threatening like the mafia. I also was under surveillance around the building. In 2001, one of my daughter's neighbors, a family of practitioners, had her home ransacked. People were taken away, the son disappeared and no one knows his whereabouts since then.

I really felt the Sujiatun incident was very serious. When thinking of my fellow practitioners getting killed, what should I be afraid of? I don't care about hunger either. A normal, healthy person was killed for his organs. What kind of behavior is this? On the second day of the three day hunger strike, I sweated for a moment, then I felt better after drinking some water and doing the sitting meditation.

I've been in Canada for nine years, and have been practicing Falun Gong for eight years. I cried once I got the message about Sujiatun. I have brothers and sisters in China who also practice Falun Gong. I know some fellow practitioners in China who are missing, too. Some of them might have been killed at Sujiatun. It's so cruel. The most brutal regime in the world could not be more evil than the Communists! I didn't even feel like eating. Many people wanted to participate in the hunger strike to protest, and I did too.

With the support of fellow practitioners, nothing can really prevent us from anything. I think I can do it. Many tourists and reporters came to ask questions. They all felt pain when seeing our posters. They all support us, and their kind and friendly support has deeply moved me.

I think I should explain the facts, and reveal the persecution against my fellow practitioners to everyone. It's been very cold in front of Capitol Hill. My legs hurt very much when doing the sitting meditation. In the cold weather, the full lotus position was really hard for me, but the older practitioners next to me kept up. They are great. It's so cold and they don't know how to speak English, but everyone worked together and did very well.

I have been in Canada for three years, and have been practicing Falun Gong for almost ten years. I'm from Tianjin, China, I was sentenced to three years of forced labor in 2001, but in fact they held me for one year.

I felt so bad when getting the message about Sujiatun, I thought that I should take action, try my best to rescue fellow practitioners and expose the evil, and let people and the media know. It's been so cold these past three days. In fact I didn't feel well on the second day. I felt headache and fever, but thinking of the people deceived by the propaganda from the Chinese Communist regime, I took the hardship as nothing. We mostly are older practitioners. We work together, and try our best to expose the facts.
Wang Yanying of 63 years

Once I heard about the Sujiatun incident, I started to think about how our fellow practitioners have suffered so much persecution, and how the Chinese Communist Party is so brutal. We all felt that if all the countries didn't speak out and step up to stop them, we should take action to draw attention of the Canadian government and media to stop the atrocities. Based on this, I participated in the hunger strike.

We have all been in front of Capitol Hill during the three days of hunger strike. It's very cold, but compared to the hardship the practitioners in China have been through, I felt it's really not a big deal. There are many tourist groups from China that have seen our hunger strike and our Falun Gong truth clarification posters. They started with not believing and not listening, but after we explained the facts, they finally accepted our materials. There was even one Chinese person who listened and showed sympathy, and supported us. I helped him quit the Chinese Communist Party and I truly felt that people are waking up.

I didn't know about the hunger strike before I left for the event, and I wasn't prepared. I had never done this kind of thing. It's so hard to get out of Mainland China. I had a thought--if I can get out, I will do more Dafa related work. Therefore I decided to take part into the hunger strike for 72 hours. I didn't drink at all the first day. Then I distributed flyers the second day, then went to a parade on the fifth day. I passed out many flyers on the crowded street. I almost forgot to rejoin the team. Many people asked me for materials, wanting to know what happened. After all, I felt very happy that I could do these things to help people learn the facts.

I didn't really think about how hard the 72 hours of hunger strike would be. After coming to Canada, I realized that practitioners here have done a lot. I think if practitioners in China could know this, they would be encouraged to do better and to be even more steadfast.

I came to Canada from Beijing over four years ago. I started the practice in 1993. From a very sick person, I changed to a healthier and healthier person. The Chinese Communist regime started to suppress and persecute Falun Dafa, and as a practitioner, I have been unlawfully held and detained many times for telling the truth to the Chinese government out of compassion, and for persisting in my belief of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." In order to avoid harassment from the evil police, I even became homeless for six months. I was shocked when getting the message of the Sujiatun incident. I was enraged by the brutality and inhumanity of the Chinese Communist regime. In the meantime, I worried about the situation that practitioners had in China. I knew some practitioners who were tortured to death by the police when I was in China, and some others I lost contact with or their whereabouts became unknown. To protest the Chinese Communist regime's brutal killing of practitioners I went on hunger strike. Now, I call on the Canadian government to help stop the atrocities that the Chinese Communist regime is committing. I call on the international community and all people of conscience to lend their helping hands, track down the criminals at the Sujiatun death camp, and help to end the persecution of the peaceful practitioners in China that has been going on for over six years.

We were shocked by the Sujiatun incident, so we are calling on the Canadian government to support us. I felt uncomfortable during the three days of hunger strike. It was very cold, even the pen for signing the petition was frozen. I still did not feel over with it after the three days. But thinking of the suffering that practitioners in China have been through, we are using our bodies to call for righteousness and conscience.

I can feel that more people are awakening to be against the persecution nowadays. My husband told me "Please don't go to work these days, go to call for help. I will work for you, so you call for help for me, to fulfill one of my wishes." I can feel that voice emerging in the world. We did make it, I felt good.

I'm from Jilin City, Jilin Province, I started to practice in 1997, and I am a beneficiary of Falun Gong, so I can't keep silent about the brutality. I went on hunger strike because I would like to call on all people of conscience in Canada to lend their helping hands. Please don't keep silent any longer about the atrocities that have been going on for over six years.

I was shocked when I read the report about the atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners in Sujiatun that were posted on the Minghui.org website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) on March 11. I could hardly believe that it was true. I can hear a voice echoing around my ears: "help, help me!......" I could not keep silent any longer. I want to call on the Canadian government with this hunger strike, call on all the Canadian people of conscience to help stop the Chinese Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong. I call on the Canadian media to focus on the concentration camp in Sujiatun, to expose it to the whole world! Since I am a younger member of the hunger strike group, I feel that I should take care of the older practitioners next to me, but they have done great! They can complete the 72 hours. I am touched.

There was a grand parade in Montreal right after the 72-hour hunger strike, and these older practitioners decided to go immediately. They didn't even take a rest on the next day after the hunger strike. Instead, they went to Chinatown and Capitol Hill to distribute materials, and they went to the parade the day after. They are in their 60s, and even 70s, and after three days of hunger strike, they didn't even rest. Isn't that a miracle that Falun Dafa created?