Japan: Rally at Chinese Consulate in Osaka Calls for An End to Persecution

Falun Gong practitioners held a rally at the Chinese Consulate in Osaka calling for an end to the persecution

A practitioner reads a statement

Consulate officials attempt to take photos of the rally

On July 18th, Falun Gong practitioners held a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Osaka to call for an end to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong.

Starting in the early morning, practitioners displayed truth-clarifying photo posters and banners reading, "Immediately End the 9-Year Persecution of Falun Gong," "Immediately Stop Arrests of Falun Gong Practitioners in the Name of Olympic Security," and "Falun Dafa is Good."

Before the rally, a Japanese police officer told the practitioners that the CCP recently pressed the Japanese government to provide a name list of Falun Gong practitioners in Japan, and the Japanese government declined the request. "Because we know that your group is peaceful and legal in Japan," said the officer.

At 10:30 a.m., the practitioners read a statement in both Chinese and Japanese. The statement said, "Facing to the never-before-seen barbaric persecution, during the past nine years, Falun Gong practitioners around the world have been adhering to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, clarifying the truth of the persecution to people, and resisting the persecution with all possible peaceful and rational means. Nine years have passed, and Falun Gong not only has survived the persecution, but the practice has also spread to more than 80 countries and territories. The CCP's persecution of Falun Gong is a persecution against righteous belief. However, persecution against righteous beliefs has never succeeded in history."

According to data published by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), by July 17th, more than 1,000,000 signatures have been collected from 126 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Oceania, calling for an end to the persecution before the 2008 Olympics. The campaign was initiated by the CIPFG early this year.

The statement concluded, "We can end the CCP's brutal persecution of all Chinese people only if the CCP is disintegrated. We call upon all kindhearted people around the world to speak out and take action to end this persecution."

During the rally, several officials from the consulate came out and attempted to take photos of the rally. At the request of the practitioners, on-duty police officers stopped the attempts.

After the rally, Falun Gong representatives requested to meet with the Consul General to present an open letter. Similar to previous years, the Consul declined this legitimate request.