Australia: Practitioners Participate in Easter Parade in Bandigo

From March 25 to 28, the city of Bandigo held a 4-day Easter celebration. Bandigo is northwest of Melbourne, and its Easter celebration is one of the largest celebrations of its kind in the state of Victoria. On March 28, a grand parade was held on the last day of the Easter holiday, and tens of thousands people came from all over Victoria to watch.

Practitioners rented a booth, where they displayed Falun Gong materials and decorated a "Petals of Peace" table. Some practitioners demonstrated the exercises, some distributed materials, some talked with visitors and others taught people how to fold paper lotus flowers and told them the story of little Fadu, whose father was beaten to death by the police in China. The Falun Gong booth was often packed with visitors, who came to look, listen, and learn. They all wished practitioners luck and left with a smile.

A western practitioner applied to the celebration organisers to play the award-winning film "Sandstorm" to expose the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. The film was then allowed to be played at a small theatre in the local library. The local Amnesty International chapter recommended a lady to come to watch the film. She asked a lot questions before the show and appeared to have many doubts. After the movie, however, she was deeply moved and said to practitioners emotionally: "The film is great. I now understand and I will talk about this with all the people that I know." In fact, every viewer of the movie was touched by the brutality depicted in the film. When the film reached its end, no one left before the music and credits were finished.

On the last day of this Easter celebration, people from far away as well as local residents came out very early to wait for the grand parade. The Bandigo Easter Parade is the second largest parade in Victoria, and has dozens of participating groups of different ethnicities and from various communities. Melbourne practitioners have participated in this parade three years in a row, and in the past once won the highest award. More and more people thus are learning about Falun Dafa. More than 80 practitioners participated in the parade this year. The practitioners' procession included a waist-drum troupe, a graceful Tang Attire Dance troupe, a Silk-Sleeves Dance troupe, a Fan Dance troupe, and a decorated lotus float, as well as an exercise demonstration group. The parade route was about 5 kilometres long. Spectators along the parade route always greeted practitioners with warm applause, and now and then one could hear someone saying "Falun Dafa, wonderful!"