Australia: Practitioners in Sydney Commemorate the 6th Anniversary of the April 25 Appeal

On April 24, 2005, more than one hundred practitioners with white flowers in hand held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the historic April 25 Appeal. Practitioners also condemned the ongoing nationwide arrest campaign against practitioners. Practitioners said that no matter what kind of violent measures the Chinese Communist Party employs, nothing can shake their belief in Falun Dafa.

Practitioners rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the 4.25 Appeal

John Deller, the spokesman of the New South Wales Falun Dafa Association, stated: "Today we come here to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the April 25 appeal. Six years ago, more than 10,000 practitioners appealed to the Chinese Central Government in order to safeguard their right to practise Falun Gong. Though the appeal was peaceful, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used this appeal as an excuse to launch an unprecedented brutal and massive persecution against Falun Gong. In fact, the persecution against Falun Gong started as early as 1996. In that year, the Guangming Daily, a mouthpiece of the CCP, started to publish articles to slander Falun Gong. In 1998, the Public Security Ministry conducted two secret investigations to collect evidence in order to persecute Falun Gong. However, both investigations reached the conclusion that Falun Gong does no harm to society, and indeed benefits society tremendously from all aspects. However, harassment, attacks and slander against Falun Gong never stopped all over the nation. The April 25 appeal in 1999 was to demand the right to practise Falun Gong. Today, we commemorate this historic appeal so that more people will hear about the ongoing persecution against Falun Gong. The persecution was spearheaded by Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan; with near 2000 practitioners murdered, hundreds of thousands incarcerated in prisons and forced labour camps, and more than 100 million innocent people have been persecuted by Jiang Zemin and the CCP. On the other hand, Falun Gong is currently freely practised in more than 60 countries. Practitioners strive to follow the principles of 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' to be good persons, but their fellow practitioners are being persecuted in China for doing so. Since the start of the persecution in July 1999, it has been near 6 years and is still ongoing. Most recently, the CCP has launched the largest nationwide arrest campaign to round up practitioners since 1999. For those who have learned about the evil nature of the CCP, you must know how the persecution was started, and we believe that this persecution will be ended soon. Once the persecution ends, all the perpetrators will be brought to justice."

Practitioners who participated in the April 25 appeal narrated details of that day

Mr. Wang participated the April 25 appeal, he said: "In 1999, we went to appeal to the Chinese State Appeals Office because some of our fellow practitioners in Tianjin City were illegally beaten up and arrested. As the Tianjin city government refused to release them, we could only appeal to the central government. During the appeal, we lined up along walkways with plenty of space left for passersby. We didn't disturb public traffic, and actually cleaned up the site afterwards. By 9pm, we left the site, as we were told that then Premier Zhu met representatives of practitioners and the practitioners arrested in Tianjin were released. In fact, the persecution against Falun Gong started long before July 20, 1999. Falun Gong's core book Zhuan Falun was banned in 1996, and there were people who came to our practise sites to interfere with our practise. We reported such interference to governments at all levels through different channels, but the issue was never addressed. The beating and arrest of practitioners in Tianjin on April 23 1999 marked a severe escalation of the persecution. Though they were released after the April 25 appeal and the government promised to protect the practitioners' right to practise Falun Gong, the CCP didn't stop its persecution and its promises have been proven to be just lies. A few months later, the regime started the unprecedented massive persecution to eliminate Falun Gong."

Ms. Liu Jinghuang is a retired employee of Chinese Academy of Science, and she also participated in the April 25 Appeal 6 years ago. She was detained in a prison in Beijing for 3 years for practising Falun Gong. She said: "Before 7am (April 25, 1999), we practitioners who went to appeal gathered outside the Chinese State Appeals office. Later, police officers came and led us toward Zhongnanhai (the compound where the Chinese Central Government leadership resides). When we reach one side of the front gate of Zhongnanhai, practitioners led by some other police officers had just arrived at the other side of the gate. At that time, we didn't think about that situation. When the CCP started to openly persecute Falun Gong in July 20 1999, it charged practitioners with besieging Zhongnanhai on April 25 1999. I then realised that everything was plotted by the CCP. In the past 6 years, the CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for trying to be good people. Now the CCP has just launched the largest nationwide arrest campaign to round up practitioners. I was incarcerated in a prison for three years, and I know that is a place where one would rather die than live because the treatment of practitioners is inhumane and hard to endure. Taking this opportunity, I would like to call on all kind-hearted people to pay close attention to the ongoing brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners."

At the end of his speech, John Deller said: "We believe that this persecution will be ended soon. By that time, we as individuals, our government and all Australians need to think about what we have done in order to end this persecution earlier... Let's dedicate the white flowers to practitioners who have lost their lives during this persecution."

With white flowers in hand, practitioners lined up around the Chinese Consulate in Sydney to express their respect and condolences to practitioners who have been tortured to death for staying steadfast in Dafa.

Ms. Li Ying, who was rescued to Australia from China, said: "This new nationwide arrest campaign once again vividly shows the evil nature of the CCP. Frightened by the tide of withdrawals from the CCP and the fact that more and more people have seen the evil nature of the party, it launched this campaign to distract public attention and intimidate the public in order to maintain its power. However, it will not achieve its goal this time because the 'Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party' has woken up more and more Chinese, who won't be deceived by the Party any more. I believe that the time left for the Party is short and the persecution will soon come to an end."

Ms. Xie Yan, who was arrested and then detained in forced labour camps or brainwashing classes on many occasions, said: "We came here to commemorate the April 25 Appeal and to help more people know about the persecution against good people."