United States: Anti-Torture Exhibitions Deeply Touch New Yorkers

On the 7th and 8th of August, Falun Gong practitioners held several anti-torture exhibitions in Manhattan to show the persecution that is taking place in China to local residents and tourists. We participated in the activity at South Street Port and witnessed many touching stories.

The Anti-torture Exhibitions Deeply Touched Peoples Hearts

Anti-torture exhibition at the South Street Port	Shocked by the brutality of the persecution	Kids viewing the posters

Because a number of activities, including a youth basketball tournament, were taking place at the South Street Port region, there were huge crowds of people. Most people who saw our anti-torture exhibition and heard the practitioners' introduction of the now five year long persecution were shocked. They expressed their outrage over the Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin and his regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong and their sympathy and support.

A gentleman said that he was from Romania, and Romanians also experienced brutal persecution in the past. However, this has now passed, he believed that practitioners would regain their right to practice Falun Gong freely in the near future. A lady said that her husband still can't go back to Cuba for fear of persecution. She could understand the practitioners' difficult situation and expressed her wish that the persecution would end as soon as possible.

Kind-hearted People Extend Their Support

After viewing the exhibition, many people asked the same question: How can we help you? When we invited them to sign a petition calling on the Chinese authorities to end this persecution immediately, several hundred people signed. The booth facing our exhibition belongs to a souvenir vendor named David. At the beginning, he was worried that our activity would disturb his business. After he learned of the persecution, he started to help us to distribute fliers. On the afternoon of the 8th of August (Sunday) when we were about to go back to Toronto, he shook our hands and wished us luck.

Practitioners' Enthusiastic Participation

A part of the anti-torture exhibition

Practitioners from Greater New York, Taiwan, Toronto and Montreal participated in the event in South Street Port. Very naturally, we helped each other to make the event successful by being cooperative. Some acted as real-life models, some distributed leaflets, and others demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises. The result was very good. The real-life models stayed in the baking sun for several hours; it was a touching scene.

When we have many participants at one site, some can go to nearby streets to distribute leaflets to reach more people.