(Clearwisdom.net) On April 25, 2009, Falun Gong practitioners held a rally in the city center of Dublin, Ireland and afterwards had a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the "April 25" peaceful appeal, to mourn for their fellow practitioners who have lost their lives in the persecution by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Mainland China, and to call for righteous and awakened people to quit the CCP and to help stop the brutal persecution.
Falun Gong practitioners hold activities in city center of Dublin, Ireland to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the "April 25" peaceful appeal
A street corner in Dublin, passersby sign to support Falun Gong
In front of the Chinese Embassy in Ireland, Falun Gong practitioners light the candles to mourn for their fellow practitioners who have lost their lives in the persecution in Mainland China.
At 1:30 p.m., Falun Gong practitioners came to the O'Connell Street. They unfurled many banners with words such as "Unyielding Tenacity, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Cast the Monument", "Calling for Justice and Conscience, Falun Gong 10 Years of Peaceful Resistance to Persecution", "The World Needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong" and so on. Many Falun Gong practitioners spoke at the rally, telling the local Chinese and Westerners of the "April 25" peaceful appeal 10 years ago and of the history of the peaceful and rational resistance to the persecution by Falun Gong practitioners for the past 10 years. During the rally, many passersby stopped to learn the truth and sign to condemn the atrocities of the brutal persecution.
Ms. Li, a Falun Gong practitioner, said, "Some may think that Falun Gong would not have been suppressed if there were no "April 25" Appeal. This is a wrong conclusion due to inverted cause-and-effect. The truth is that the "April 25" appeal was caused by the repression by the CCP, not vice versa. The subsequent suppression was merely an extension and escalation of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. When there is a wish to persecute, a pretext will always be found. As long as Falun Gong practitioners remain steadfast in their belief, the CCP will continuously make all kinds of excuses for its atrocities.
In 1999, the Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan clique started a large scale of persecution of Falun Gong, using the main excuse of that the "April 25" peaceful appeal was to "besiege Zhongnanhai". On June 10, the 610 Office was set up by the CCP authorities specifically to persecute Falun Gong. On July 20, 1999 the full-scale suppression and persecution was launched all over the country. According to the statistics by Clearwisdom.net, from July 20, 1999 to now, the confirmed number of Falun Gong practitioners who have died as a result of the persecution has reached 3,259.
At the recent "International Conference on Religious Freedom in China and the Decade-long Persecution of Falun Gong in China" held at the European Parliament, Mr. Li Fengzhi, a former intelligence official of the Ministry of State Security of China, pointed out that the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP has never stopped. Mr. Zhao Ming, a representative of the Falun Dafa Association in Ireland, stated at the rally, "Mr. Li Fengzhi disclosed at the conference that the persecution of religious groups by the CCP has never stopped. Especially in the persecution of Falun Gong, (the CCP) has used the whole state machinery, put in unlimited resources, brutally oppressed (the Falun Gong) acting above the law. The CCP's institutions of state security have been reduced to tools of persecution, rather than institutions of protecting state security."
During the same period of persecution, the unremitting truth-clarification activities by Falun Gong practitioners have made Falun Gong known gradually by the international community. Many people started to practice Falun Gong upon learning the truth. Others quit the CCP and expressed an unwillingness to participate in the illegal activities of the CCP regime. After the rally, Falun Gong practitioners held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in Ireland to mourn for their fellow practitioners who have lost their lives in the persecution. The dot by dot of candlelights expressed their infinite hope to awaken more people to justice and conscience, and to stop the persecution.
