On November 11th, 2004, practitioners participated in the grand New York City Veterans Day Parade for the first time, to let local people know the truth about Falun Dafa and the ongoing persecution in China.
The 59th Veterans Day parade is one of the grand parades in Manhattan. The parade had more than seventeen thousand participants from 114 groups, and it was estimated than more than 100,000 people watched the parade along famous 5th avenue. Practitioners' procession, consisting of more than 100 practitioners in yellow exercise suits, was exceptionally eye-catching.
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| Practitioners Marching on 5th Avenue in Manhattan | |
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| Waist-Drummers | Meditating on the float |
The practitioners' procession was led by two giant banners which read "Falun Dafa" in English and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in both English and Chinese respectively. The banners were followed by three golden lotus flowers and a decorated float on which six practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises. The float was followed by practitioners' waist-drum troupe. When the procession passed by, many spectators hurried to take photos. Some cheered or applauded, some waved the U.S. national flag and some signaled "V" to greet practitioners.
A western lady who was applauding really hard told this reporter that she had never heard of Falun Dafa before; however, she felt very good when she saw the practitioners' procession and a feeling of happiness and joy arose in her naturally.
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When she was told what Falun Dafa was and about the ruthless treatment of these peaceful practitioners, she was very sad. She said, "It is really hard to believe and very sad. It should never have happened." She thanked the practitioner for telling her about Falun Dafa and hoped that the persecution would end soon.
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A man signaled "V" when he saw practitioners' procession. He told this reporter that practitioners' anti-torture exhibitions had been seen on many streets of Manhattan and a lot of New Yorkers had learned about Falun Dafa and the ongoing brutal persecution taking place in Mainland China.
He said: "Falun Dafa is indeed good. I believe that all the people around the world should follow the principle of 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.'"
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