(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a rally outside the Ferry Building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero on August 2, 2025, during the World Transplant Congress (WTC, August 2-6), to raise awareness of the atrocities taking place in China. They demanded that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) immediately end the persecution of Falun Gong and the forced live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.

Falun Gong practitioners do the exercises outside the Ferry Building on August 2, 2025 during the WTC, to raise awareness of the CCP’s crimes.

Practitioners hold a rally outside the Ferry Building on August 2, 2025 to demand that the CCP stop taking organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

CCP-Sanctioned Organ Harvesting Is a Heinous Crime

Ms. Lu, who has been practicing Falun Gong since 1996, said at the rally that after she followed the teachings of Falun Gong—Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—she became more tolerant and happy and her life was filled with joy. But after the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, she was arrested for talking to the local government about how practicing improved her physical and mental health. She was brutally tortured and forced to take blood tests many times while in detention. A practitioner who was detained in the same cell as Ms. Lu was taken away and never returned.

Ms. Lu said the CCP’s persecution has gone on for 26 years. She said that the regime’s removal of organs from detained practitioners and selling them for profit is a heinous, unprecedented crime. “The CCP’s brutality has led to countless broken families,” Ms. Lu said. “It is destroying society’s moral baseline.”

I Hope People Realize the True Nature of the CCP

Mr. Feng spoke of his personal experiences of being persecuted by the CCP.

He was arrested for practicing Falun Gong in 2007 and imprisoned for 4 years in the Shandong Province Prison. Falun Gong practitioners were made to undergo blood tests at least twice every year. He said that the regime is systematically taking organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for huge profits, and of course, the victims die after their organs are removed. Mr. Feng recounted that the guards instructed other inmates to beat him because he refused to submit to the blood tests.

Mr. Feng said he hopes to use his personal experience to expose the CCP’s brutal persecution and live organ harvesting. He also hopes that people of conscience will realize the evil nature of the regime and he called on the international society to help stop organ harvesting as soon as possible.

I Hope Organ Harvesting Ends

Mr. Wang from Heilongjiang Province described the persecution that he and his wife went through in China.

They were arrested, interrogated, and detained for refusing to give up their faith and for refusing to stop clarifying the truth about Falun Gong.

They were taken to a state controlled hospital in Hubei Province by CCP officials before they were illegally detained. At the hospital, their blood was drawn by force and they had to undergo many tests including kidney function, electrocardiograms, and CT scans on their lungs and other organs. The doctor even asked Mr. Wang if he’d had surgery in the past, and wanted to know his medical history such as fatty liver. It was clear that they were taking information for organ matching. Most other detainees are not made to undergo this kind of in-depth medical examination. “We are subjected to such special treatment because we practice Falun Gong,” Mr. Wang said.

Mr. Wang said he hopes people pay attention to the human rights tragedy happening in China. “The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP truly exists. There is an evil chain of interest behind the organ transplant system. We hope such crimes don’t continue to quietly take place.”

The CCP Is the Greatest Threat

Shu Nan, chief editor of the San Francisco branch of The Epoch Times

Shu Nan, chief editor of the San Francisco branch of The Epoch Times, said that after the CCP launched its persecution campaign against Falun Gong in 1999, millions of Falun Gong practitioners became victims. He said that in the first decade of this century, there has been an exponential growth in the organ transplant industry in China. Persecuting Falun Gong solved the problem of China’s organ source and its financial problems at the same time. [Editor’s note: China did not have a system of voluntary organ donation system until 2010, and largely for cultural reasons, numbers of voluntary organ donations remain extremely low.]

“The CCP’s main objective is to eradicate Falun Gong because it cannot tolerate people’s belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. This is the main reason for the regime’s persecution of Falun Gong. We want to let people know that the CCP’s crimes of organ harvesting continue to take place. We call on the international society to be clear on the CCP’s nature: it is the greatest threat to democratic society.”

The CCP’s Crimes Are Serious

Torstey Trey, executive director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH)

Torstey Trey, executive director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) said that the San Francisco rally is extremely important: it is a matter of people’s lives. He elaborated, “We estimate, in the past 26 years, already over 1 million Falun Gong practitioners died from live organ harvesting by the CCP. In the Nazi concentration camps, humans were used in experiments—in the CCP’s concentration camps, people’s organs are taken while they are alive.”

Dr. Trey said Falun Gong practitioners follow Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance while the CCP embodies deception, evil and strife. He called on people not to remain silent in the face of the CCP’s brutal crimes, and to stand with Falun Gong practitioners to stop the regime from continuing to forcibly harvest organs.

Organ Harvesting at this Scale Is Unprecedented

Ali Centurion of DAFOH

Ali Centurion, a DAFOH representative, said that the largest group of victims in the CCP’s organ harvesting crime is Falun Gong practitioners. They are used as an involuntary source of organs.

He said the CCP’s organ harvesting is a medical assault that is unprecedented, trampling on fundamental ethical standards in the most horrifying way. Many consider it is the most severe violation of medical and transplant ethics in the 21^st Century.

Mr. Centurion said, “DAFOH will absolutely not stop its efforts and give up its mission [to end forced organ harvesting] until we see the phenomenon of organ harvesting by the CCP end.”

Artist Expresses Her Support for Falun Gong

Ms. Li Ke, a street artist in San Francisco, supports Falun Gong.

Ms. Li Ke, a street artist in San Francisco, heard that Falun Gong practitioners were holding a rally that day so she came to show her support. Holding a sign with the message: “People in San Francisco Support Falun Gong,” she said, “I drew a picture to express my sincerity and made a sign to support you.”

Ms Li, who is from Northeast China, said that Falun Gong was first publicly taught in her hometown. She recalled that at that time, there were many Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises in parks and other public places. “My relatives and neighbors practiced Falun Gong,” she said.

Ms. Li said many practitioners were illegally arrested. Now, not only is the CCP taking organs from practitioners without their consent, they are even taking organs from ordinary citizens. She said, “We should stand up and call for an end to such evil crimes.”