Australia: Practitioners Take Part in the Springfest Grand Parade on the Gold Coast

The organiser of Springfest phoned Falun Gong practitioners again this year, asking us to take part in the Springfest Grand Parade, as we have done for the last four years. He strongly supports practitioners and is mindful of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He shows Falun Gong great respect and he knows we will always have a unique and beautiful float.

This year, Springfest took place at the same time as the APEC leaders meetings in Sydney. Because of this, the number of practitioners available to participate was limited. Practitioners thus designed a particularly unique float to introduce Dafa to the community.

Practitioners from around South-East Queensland traveled long distances to help set up the float and take part in the parade, to display the beauty of Falun Gong. The float itself was decorated with lotus flowers, Falun banners and a "Falun Dafa is Good" banner. Practitioners on the float demonstrated the exercises, and some were dressed in Buddha, Emperor and Tang Dynasty costumes. This year, the parade was changed from Saturday to Sunday, which resulted in larger crowds. As our float passed by, the audience continuously clapped and gave us the "thumbs up" sign. Our float was awarded the Springfest Grand Parade Best Float 2007 Cup.

Along the lengthy parade route from Palm Beach to Currumbin, a large number of flyers about the practice of Falun Gong were eagerly accepted by the crowds of people.

A photographer from the Gold Coast Bulletin took photos, and we had the opportunity to discuss Falun Gong and the persecution with him, particularly the illegal removal of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

An organiser from the Banana Festival in the northern New South Wales Tweed Shire also approached us and invited us to be part of their festival and parade next year.