(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners in Toronto held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate on April 25, 2010, the 11^th anniversary of the April 25 Appeal. The vigil commemorated the Falun Gong practitioners who died as a result of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led persecution.

Ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners peacefully and legally appealed on April 25, 1999, and requested the release of arrested practitioners in Tianjin. Then Premier Zhu Rongji and other high-ranking officials talked with Falun Gong practitioners' representatives and solved the problems. The violent treatment of Falun Gong by Tianjin police was resolved.

To the surprise of the world, the CCP broke its promise to allow Falun Gong practitioners the freedom to practice on July 20, 1999, and launched a brutal persecution of Falun Gong.

Ms. Wang Li was a graduate student in Shandong Province during the April 25 Appeal. Her professor participated in the appeal and told her his experience. Ms. Wang said, "We all believed the government would resolve the issue reasonably. The nation-wide suppression starting on July 20 was totally beyond our expectations. My professor and his wife were among the first arrested. They were both model professors in our university. I visited them in the detention center. They were afraid I would be implicated and didn't want me to visit them, so they told me, 'We hope this is the last time we see you.' I didn't quite understand what they meant. I have had no information about them since then. I miss them very much."

Ms. Wang from China participated in the appeal in person. She said, "We completely trusted the government to resolve the problem when we went to appeal. It wasn't until the persecution began on July 20 that we realized the government had lied to us. It was hard to believe the government had broken its own promise. Despite of Falun Gong practitioners' persistent clarification of the facts, the CCP still clings to its persecution of innocent people. It is doomed."

Mr. Lu Fang used to work in construction administration in Beijing. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1995. Four people out of twenty in his department used to practice Falun Gong. Mr. Lu refused to write a guarantee statement not to practice Falun Gong. He was sent to a brainwashing center. In 2001, he was sent to a forced labor camp for 18 months for having an experience sharing meeting with a few other practitioners. He was fired even though his bosses weren't willing to let him go. They had to carry out the persecution policy.

Ms. Lily Li had been practicing Falun Gong for less than a month before the April 25 Appeal. She went to appeal for Falun Gong in October 1999 and was sent to a forced labor camp for more than a year. She stayed steadfast despite brainwashing, force-feeding, hanging, and other torture. She said, "I believe Falun Gong is the only pure land. We have been clarifying the true story of Falun Gong peacefully for the past eleven years. We are doing the same thing today. I hope the persecution will end soon."