(Clearwisdom.net) On the evening of July 11, 2009, Falun Gong practitioners in the Detroit area held a candlelight vigil at Wayne State University to mourn Falun Gong practitioners who had lost their lives for remaining steadfast in face of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) ten-year persecution.
Silently, Falun Gong practitioners sat, with candles in their hands. The bright candlelight formed the words, "Rectify the Fa" in the darkness. The names of Falun Gong practitioners who died from persecution were read aloud during the solemn vigil.
| Candlelight forms the words, "Rectify the Fa," during the solemn vigil. |
| Mourning Falun Gong practitioners who died from persecution. |
| Mr. Xu, one of the organizers, being interviewed by NTDTV |
Local Chinese people happened to be having a soccer game on the grass brfore the candlelight vigil. The Falun Gong practitioners distributed fliers to them. Most of them were pleased to receive the fliers, and many of them stayed and watched the vigil from the beginning to the end.
Cars slowed down to receive fliers. When people found out the activity was to mourn the victims of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, they expressed their sympathy and support for the practitioners and the efforts to end the persecution.
| A young man took the initiative to join the vigil. |
A young man happened to pass by on his bike. After finding out about the persecution of Falun Gong in China, he joined the practitioners' vigil. A practitioner taught him how to sit with his legs crossed. He sat quietly with the practitioners until the end of the vigil. When the vigil was over, and after practitioners finished cleaning up the field, he stood up and told them he was interested in Falun Gong and Eastern culture. He said that he hoped to go to the group exercise site to learn Falun Gong.
Since the former head of the CCP, Jiang Zemin, launched the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners on July 20, 1999, countless practitioners have been illegally detained and at least three thousand have lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands have been tortured. The most appalling crime is the CCP's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for sale in the lucrative organ transplant trade.
| Mrs. Zhang personally experienced the persecution when she was in Wuhan, China. |
Mrs. Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Wuhan, China, wept silently when the names of the persecution victims were read aloud. She was arrested twice in China for refusing to give up her practice of Falun Gong. Her home was searched. She held a hunger strike before she was released from detention. Mrs. Zhang had to leave her home and was eventually rescued abroad. She said, "The persecution was very bad in Wuhan. Many young people were arrested. Nobody knows where they are now. The actual death toll by far exceeds the three thousand verified deaths." According to incomplete statistics on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, 163 practitioners have died in Hubei Province due to the persecution. Among them, 54 lived in Wuhan.
Despite the brutal persecution in China, the practice of Falun Gong has spread to more than one hundred countries around the world.
Mr. Xu, one of the organizers of the candlelight vigil, told the reporter, "It has been ten years since the persecution was launched. We are mourning our fellow practitioners in China who lost their lives in the persecution. We, and Falun Gong practitioners around the world, would like to show support for our fellow practitioners in China. We walk the same path with them."
