(Minghui.org) Doing meditation in the park can be a hobby for relaxation, but for some it requires courage and determination.

People from across Australia gathered at Belmore Park in Sydney on September 5 to do the meditative exercises of Falun Gong. The following day they participated in an experience-sharing conference, where speeches were given on improvements made through the practice, sometimes even in the face of brutal persecution in China.

Falun Gong practitioners do the exercises in Belmore Park on September 5.

A Sharp Contrast

Ms. Li, who flew nearly 2500 miles across Australia from Perth, said the practice improved her body and mind. “I am glad to do the exercises here with so many practitioners. It is a strong energy field,” she said.

In contrast, anyone who attempts to participate in this peaceful practice in China faces arrest, torture, or even death.

Falun Gong practitioners arrested and beaten at Tiananmen Square in Beijing

Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline, was introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992. The exercises, along with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, quickly attracted a large number of practitioners.

The communist regime began to suppress and eventually ban Falun Gong when they discovered that nearly 100 million Chinese citizens had taken up the practice by early 1999.

A large group does the Falun Gong exercises in Shenyang City of Northeast China in May 1998, before the persecution began.

Since the nationwide “crackdown” started in July 1999, more than 3800 practitioners are confirmed to have died as a result of torture while in police custody. Researchers on China's organ harvesting crimes estimate that 65,000 practitioners were killed for their organs by 2008.

Outside China, practitioners have been holding events for the past 16 years calling for an to end to the persecution.

Raising Awareness in Australia

Intrigued by the peaceful meditation at Belmore Park, many passersby stopped for information.

“Here is a place of purity and serenity. I hope to fill myself with this positive energy and pass it to others like ripples,” said Seelatya, who passed by the park and stopped to learn the exercises.

Another pedestrian, Kumer Ellanla, thanked the practitioners for letting him know about the suppression in China. He signed a petition to support a recent campaign of lawsuits against key perpetrators of the persecution and said he believed that the culprits will one day be held responsible.

Since May, a mounting number of lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese leader who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong, have been submitted to China's Supreme Court. At least 166,000 criminal complaints have been filed against Jiang as of late August 2015.

Among them is Zhang Yong, a graduate from the prestigious Tsinghua University with a degree in electrical engineering. For believing in Falun Gong, he was sent to a labor camp in 2003 for a two-year term. He was put in solitary confinement in an iron cage and severely beaten. He was hung up high for 24 hours, followed by continued torture. As a result, he was emaciated and could hardly stand. He still has difficulty walking now, twelve years later.

His wife, Yu Manhua, was held in the notorious Masanjia Labor Camp in 2003 for a two-year term, where she was forced to work at least 12 hours a day and was injected with unknown drugs.

The couple filed criminal complaints against Jiang last month in Canberra, Australia.