United States: One Thousand Falun Gong Practitioners Rally in Manhattan, New York City to Raise Awareness of the Persecution

Over the past two months, Falun Gong practitioners have been continuously telling people form all circles of Manhattan about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. On the 22nd of September, while the 59th UN conference opened at its headquarter in New York, nearly one thousand practitioners rallied at the UN Plaza. After a large group practice and a press conference, practitioners formed a "Great Wall of Courage" on the 3rd avenue of Manhattan to further call upon people support to end the persecution.

Group Practice and Press Conference

At 9am, practitioners started a group practice at the UN Plaza. Since the former President Jiang Zemin and his regime started this persecution five years ago, practitioners have come to the Plaza numerous times to expose the persecution and call for justice. As always, the solemn practice scene demonstrated their peace and firmness.

Large scale group practice

A police officer viewing a poster with photos explaining the severity of the persecution

At 10:30, a press conference to "Rescue children victimised by the persecution of Falun Gong" started.

Since Jiang Zemin launched the persecution in 1999, at least 1049 people who practice Falun Gong have been persecuted to death for appealing for justice for Falun Gong. Countless people have been illegally sent to forced labour camps, sentenced to prison terms, etc. Tens of thousands have been severely tortured for exposing the severity of the persecution. According to incomplete statistics, from July of 1999 to September of 2004, on average 17 practitioners died as a result of torture and abuse every month with about 51% female and 48% male (As a result of information being blocked, the gender of the remaining 1% have not been identified.) The average age of the victims were 45 years old and many of them were parents of young children who have now been orphaned and are living without support.

The press conference called upon people to help rescue the children who are being fiercely persecuted in China either due to their parents or themselves practicing Falun Gong. Practitioner Jane Dai and her daughter Fadu shared their story: When Fadu was only 6 months old, her farther was killed as a result of torture for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, by authorities following Jiang's persecution policies. Since then, Fadu and her mother have travelled to 38 countries to expose the persecution. Practitioner Amy Lee was also persecuted in China and had been forced to separate from her daughter for two years. These true stories revealed how much suffering and damage the brutal persecution had brought to those innocent people who practise Falun Gong.

Practitioner Xuefei Zhou, who was recently rescued to the U.S. from China, gave her personal testimony to the persecution that she had experienced in a labour camp. She also thanked Americans for rescuing her. Ms. Zhou's case and many others tell us that voices of justice indeed can help to restrain and eventually end the persecution.

Many reporters from various media asked the questions of why Jiang and his political followers view Falun Gong as a threat and why practitioners under persecution refuse to give up their belief.

Before the press conference ended, host Al Whitted emphasised again: Practitioners are neither against China nor the Chinese government, but only against this persecution.

The press conference site	Answering questions from media	A reporter (left) interviewed a practitioner after the press conference

The Great Wall of Courage

From noon to 2pm, with small banners such as "Help End the Persecution of Falun Gong" and "Falun Dafa is Good" and various truth-clarifying posters as well as their firm belief and unyielding spirit, practitioners formed a "Great Wall of Courage" on the 3rd avenue from 43 to 57 st. Now and then, some passersby stopped to talk with practitioners to learn more.

Norma is a junior student of Cornell University and her sister Jennifer is a high school student. Together with their mother, they drove 4 hours to Manhattan to join this activity. When asked why they would come, the said that they wanted more people to know the facts about Falun Gong. "In April, the motion condemning China's human rights brought up by U.S. was tabled again because of interference from Jiang's faction. Now the UN is holding its annual conference in New York and officials from all nations have come to Manhattan, we hope that our activity can help more people to pay close attention to the persecution of innocent practitioners in China and help end it ASAP." The sisters said. When asked whether or not their trip to New York City would affect their studies, they said: "It won't. We will catch up after we get back."

Norma and Jennifer explaining the persecution of Falun Gong to a passerby

Dr. Guofeng Chen is from Taiwan and he said that he would stay in New York City for the entire week to show New Yorkers what Falun Gong is. According to him, about 200 Taiwanese practitioners came to help during this week. Dr. Chen and other Taiwanese practitioners said: "We are all Chinese and have the same origin as our Mainland fellow practitioners. We study the same teachings and practice the same exercises. We can freely practice Falun Gong in Taiwan and benefit from Falun Gong, while our fellow practitioners are being persecuted in Mainland by Jiang's faction. We can't pay a blind eye to this. We must let more people know the persecution and its brutality. The more people know the truth, the sooner the persecution will be ended. We just want to make our contribution to end this persecution."

The Great Wall of Courage

Anti-torture Exhibition

The Anti-torture exhibition is a new method practitioners adopted this year to expose the persecution and explain the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong. By using real-life models to reenact torture methods employed by Jiang and his political followers, though it is still a far cry from the real brutality, many spectators have been deeply touched.

During this week, practitioners will have 8-9 exhibitions at different sites everyday and the impact so far has been very good.

Anti-torture exhibition on Water Street

Anti-torture exhibition at Union Square

New York practitioner Kangang Xu is a voluntary coordinator for this project, he said: "We have been exposing the persecution in Manhattan for nearly two months. More and more people have learnt the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. After learning the facts, people have been shocked and outraged by the brutality of the persecution. They often couldn't understand why Jiang and his political followers would persecute Falun Gong, many of them have taken the initiative to ask us how they can help. We firmly believe that more and more people will learn the truth and speak out against the persecution."