A Report from Manhattan on New Yorkers' Comments on the Anti-Torture Exhibitions

It was extremely cold and windy on Monday the 20th of December. The temperature dropped to 18°F. At the torture exhibition on Wall Street, an elderly Caucasian couple came and signed the petition calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Government’s persecution against Falun Gong. The petition will eventually be submitted to the U.S. State Department. They came to learn the facts about the persecution and to sign the petition despite the bleak weather, which shows how sincere they were in supporting Falun Gong. A Chinese restaurant owner exclaimed aloud when he saw Falun Gong practitioners persevering in their cause in the near-zero temperature, “You are continuing your activities in such cold weather? My best wishes to you.”

An elderly Caucasian man in his 40’s came to the torture exhibition on Wall Street and offered his words of encouragement to Falun Gong practitioners, “Your torture exhibition is a very strong statement.” A Falun Gong practitioner replied, “‘Strong statement’ is not a phrase that the average American would use. It is a very appropriate phrase.”

At the torture exhibition held by European and Japanese Falun Gong practitioners, a man in his 50’s introduced himself as the manager at a non-profit organisation and passed Falun Gong practitioners his business card. He said, “Our organisation does research on unjust deaths. Please mail any update concerning the persecution against Falun Gong to me at the company address on my business card. I have written letters to many government organisation, asking them to be concerned about this issue.”

The weather became much warmer on Tuesday, as if spring had arrived. Falun Gong practitioners at every anti-torture exhibition site said that people were very receptive to the offer of our Falun Dafa materials. It used to be that African-Americans were more receptive to the offer of VCD’s, but now a lot of Caucasians have begun to take them too. Many people offered their good wishes to Falun Gong practitioners.