Tokyo, Japan: Practitioners Hold Candlelight Vigil and Activities to Commemorate the April 25 Appeal

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Tokyo held a series of activities during the weekend of April 24-25, 2021, to mark the 22nd anniversary of the April 25 Appeal in China.

Practitioners demonstrate the exercises as part of their weekend-long activities in Tokyo.

Practitioners gathered in a park in the morning and demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises.

Practitioners collect signatures at busy locations throughout Tokyo.

After finishing the group exercises, the practitioners went to busy stations, including Tokyo, Shinbashi, Akihabara, and others, to raise awareness of the 22-year-long persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They displayed posters, distributed informational materials, and talked to passersby. Many people signed a petition to support practitioners’ efforts to end the persecution.

A man said, “The CCP imprisons innocent people. It’s absolutely not allowed.”

A passerby said, “The CCP is conducting forced organ harvesting from living people. It is too cruel, and must be stopped.”

A practitioner said that April 25 is the day that Falun Dafa practitioners raise awareness of the persecution.

A practitioner said that practitioners in Japan have recently reached government officials and citizens to inform them about the persecution of practitioners in China that has persisted for more than 20 years. They hope that people will step forward and work with practitioners to end the persecution.

Practitioners peacefully protest the persecution in front of the Chinese Embassy in Japan.

Practitioners went to the Chinese Embassy in Japan to protest the persecution. They displayed banners that read, “Falun Dafa Is Good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Is Good,” and other messages. They called for an end to the persecution.

Practitioners held a candlelight vigil in Tokyo to mourn the practitioners who lost their lives due to persecution by the CCP.

As evening enveloped Tokyo, practitioners held a candlelight vigil to mourn the practitioners who lost their lives due to the persecution in China.

Over the past 22 years, Falun Dafa practitioners have continued to peacefully protest and raise awareness about the persecution to help people clearly see the evil nature of the CCP. They believe that the day when everyone is awakened to the truth will come.

Background: What is the April 25th Appeal?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first taught to the public in 1992. Nearly 100 million people across China were soon practicing after experiencing improvements in their health and morals.

On April 23-24, 1999, police officials in Tianjin, a city near Beijing, assaulted and arrested dozens of practitioners who had gathered outside a magazine office to discuss errors in a recently-published article that attacked Falun Dafa. As word spread of the arrests and more practitioners inquired with officials, they were told that they had to take their appeal to Beijing.

The following day, April 25, some 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners spontaneously gathered at the Central Appeals office in Beijing, as they had been instructed by Tianjin officials. The gathering was peaceful and orderly. Several Falun Dafa representatives were called in to meet with Chinese Premier, Zhu Rongji, and members of his staff. That evening, practitioners’ concerns were answered. The arrested practitioners in Tianjin were released and everyone went home.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and issued an order to ban Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999.

The Minghui.org website has confirmed the deaths of thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners due to the persecution over the past 22 years, but the actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.