(Minghui.org) The Pacific Pines Winterfest, the largest annual community event on Australia’s Gold Coast, was held on July 16, 2023 at the Central Park Oval in Queensland. Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the event and told people about the mind and body practice and the ongoing persecution in China.
Vickki Hocking, the organizer of the event said, “I am delighted to see Falun Dafa practitioners at the festival again.”
Many community groups participated in the event. There were all kinds of stalls offering food and family-friendly activities. An estimated 6,000 people attended the festival this year.
Practitioners participated in the Pacific Pines Winterfest held in Gold Coast on July 16, 2023.
Many people stopped at the Falun Dafa booth and learned about the practice.
Practitioners demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises which drew many people to their booth to learn more about the practice. Practitioners handed out information as well as hanging lotus flower charms. When a practitioner explained to Shelley the lotus flower symbolized the peacefulness and purity of a cultivator, she promised to display the flower in a special place as a reminder. Some people also asked where and how they could learn Falun Dafa.
They also told people how the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has persecuted practitioners in China for 24 years, including imprisonment, torture, and forced organ harvesting from living practitioners, imprisoned for their faith. People were shocked by these brutal crimes and many signed the petition calling for an end to the atrocities.
Practitioners informed several politicians who came to the festival about recent activities held to raise awareness about the persecution. Meaghan Scalon, the Member of Parliament for Gaven in Queensland was glad to learn that practitioners recently held activities in the capital city, Canberra. They also met with the foreign minister Senator Penny Wong and told her about the persecution in China.
Mr. Mark Boothman, Member of Parliament for Theodore, Queensland told practitioners the Queensland state government and his colleague in the Liberal Party Schott Buchholz, raised their concerns about the detention of Falun Dafa practitioners in China with the Chinese Embassy in Canberra. Boothman said he hopes the Chinese Communist regime’s tyranny will end soon.
Staff members of Councilor Peter Young, who represents Division 5 in Gold Coast city, said they welcomed practitioners at the Pacific Pines Winterfest and were glad that many people came to the stall and learn about the persecution every year. They also asked practitioners to keep in contact with their office and keep them updated about local Falun Dafa events.
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
