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1. Presenting the persecution facts to government officials
We carried out extensive conversations with administrative officials, human rights organisation members and other government officials in the counties we passed through. We explained to them about the unreasonable arrest of Dr. Charles Li and the fact that Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted and even tortured to death. In Sacramento, we visited three Congressmen and attended a city assembly. During the assembly, the Deputy Mayor signed a letter on the spot to President Bush and the Department of State. A State Senator told us that he signed a letter a week ago to the Chinese Ambassador in the US, and gave us a copy of the letter.
When we visited the state government, we met a merchant who had just come from Beijing. When he heard about rescuing Charles Li, he immediately expressed that he would explain the facts to his business clients in China and would take our truth-clarifying materials to his friends in China.
2. News conference
Visiting the Santa Rosa TV station
We visited the local newspaper, radio and TV stations in Santa Rosa, and decided to conduct a news conference at the next stop in the Napa Valley. We encountered problems right from the start.
We met a serious traffic jam along the way, and later our van was hit by a car behind us, causing our van to bump the vehicle ahead of us. As a result, the practitioners sitting in the back seats were thrown into the front, along with display boards and other goods. After the accident, we found out that all three vehicles involved were undamaged.
The constant interference did not block us. When we reached the press conference site, many reporters and photographers were already waiting there. All local media came to attend the conference, and local residents would soon hear the news about the persecution of Falun Gong and the "Rescue Charles Li" campaign.
3. Collecting petition signatures along the route
Although an elderly practitioner does not speak English, she collected a great number of petition signatures. She asked a fellow practitioner to prepare a copy of truth-clarifying material in English and whenever she met some people, she would ask them to read it. She then used her hand gestures to express her kindness and sincerity, which moved many people's hearts. She often went to shop by shop to collect petition signatures and at the same time, she required herself to "do but pursue not". Her simple and honest smile and her pure heart moved people's hearts and allowed them to position themselves well in the peaceful field of righteous thoughts.
We used all possible chances to present the persecution facts and collect signatures. After the car accident, we thought we should clarify the truth and collect petition signatures. People in the other two cars in the accident all signed the petition. The driver of the car behind us also asked us for an empty petition form so that he could ask his colleagues and friends to sign it. At the press conference, reporters and attendees also signed the petition.
Along the route, we met many kind-hearted people. Although some had deformity in their hands, they still insisted on signing the petition themselves. Some who had quickly passed by to begin with, came back shortly after to request information and sign the petition. Some who were waiting for a bus also came over to sign.
When an elderly lady who operated the elevator in a state government building saw our display board for rescuing Charles Li, she came over to ask us for more information and signed the petition. Later, she came back to us and said, "How could the Chinese government treat people this way? The American government must rescue Charles Li." She told us that she would talk about this issue to the state government officials who take the elevator everyday.
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