August the 20th, 2004, marked the third anniversary of Vancouver Falun Gong practitioners' continuous 24-hour-a-day appeal in front of the Chinese Consulate. In the evening, Vancouver practitioners held a candlelight vigil outside the Chinese Consulate to commemorate the third anniversary of the peaceful appeal. On August the 19th, a large and influential local English newspaper, the Vancouver Sun telephoned Falun Gong practitioners to request an interview regarding the reasons for this appeal that has lasted for three years. A detailed report was published on August 20 in the newspaper Vancouver Sun:
On the evening of August the 20th, Vancouver Falun Gong practitioners hold candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate to commemorate the third anniversary of the peaceful appeal |
On the evening of the 20th of August, when Falun Gong practitioners were holding the candlelight vigil, a sister and brother came over. They especially came over after reading the article published on Vancouver Sun. They were very happy to receive a Falun Gong introductory leaflet and listened to practitioners explaining the persecution facts. They expressed their wish to learn Falun Gong exercises. The sister said that she would go to Queen Elizabeth Park practice site the next morning to learn the exercises. The brother asked if there was a practice site at Prince George.
When they heard about the persecution, the sister shed tears. When they heard that the persecution has been extended to countries outside China, and the persecution experienced by Canadian citizen Professor Zhang Kunlun when he visited back to China, the sister earnestly asked, "What can I do to help?" When she learnt that Falun Gong practitioners in many countries filed lawsuits against Jiang, the chief perpetrator of the persecution and Canadian Falun Gong practitioners are also planning to sue him, she said that she would write to her Parliament Member and request him to support this lawsuit. She expressed her respect for Falun Gong practitioners' meditation and peaceful appeal over the past five years.
The sister and brother were hesitant to leave. They took many photos. At that time, a Chinese TV station interviewed the sister. She embraced a practitioner to express her concern and support.
About 10 minutes later after they left, the brother came back again. He said that he was an editor of a newspaper in Prince George. He said that he came to visit his sister and read the report on Vancouver Sun and therefore he came over. He left his email address and hoped that practitioners would write him their stories and whatever they would like to say. He said that he would like to publish them.
At present, there are no Falun Gong practitioners in Prince George. People there do not know much about Falun Gong. We appreciated Teacher's arrangement to allow people there to have the opportunity to learn about Falun Dafa and the facts about the persecution.
The following is the original report published in Vancouver Sun:
Article: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=62f45aae-0296-4de7-9c84-ab753631f60a&page=1
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