(Clearwisdom.net) Ten years ago on July 20, The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong. On July 18, 2009, over two hundred Falun Gong practitioners held a rally in Melbourne to call for help from kind and just people to put an end to the persecution.

The parade started from City Square in the Central Business District of Melbourne.

Calling for an end to the ten-year-long persecution

Torture re-enactment

Demonstration of the CCP's organ removal from Falun Gong practitioners of conscience.

Short musical about the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong.

Tourists and citizens stop to view Falun Gong's displays.

Citizens of Melbourne come to understand the crimes committed against Falun Gong in the persecution.

Citizens accept Falun Gong fliers.

People sign petition to support Falun Gong.

The parade started off at City Square and moved down Swanston Street. The parade finally came back to the Square and practitioners held a rally there. Representatives from the Australian government, the bar society, and non-governmental organizations spoke at the rally. They called for an end to the brutal suppression of Falun Gong. The Divine Land Marching Band came from Sydney to join the parade. The band's performance and the parade attracted many to come to understand the facts about Falun Gong.

Jenny Mikakos, Member of Parliament of Victoria.

Jenny Mikakos, Member of Parliament of Victoria, expressed her support for Falun Gong practitioners in her letter. In the letter, she said that she believed human rights should be as important as economic trade in the Australian government's conversations with Beijing. "We cannot ignore human rights violations on the other end of the Earth. Human rights protection and improvement should be the priority in our minds and actions."

She added that since the persecution started in 1999, according to Amnesty International, the CCP has never stopped torturing and arresting Falun Gong practitioners. She called on Beijing to respect Falun Gong practitioners' rights to a peaceful practice.

Attorney Jo Knight

Jo Knight is a lawyer who specializes in refugee cases. In the past eight years, she has worked very hard to help Falun Gong practitioners applying for Permanent Protection Visas in Australia. Ms. Knight recalled that in the past eight years, because of the CCP's lies and the public in Australia not understanding what has happened to Falun Gong, "Every case is like a war."

Ms. Knight sees practitioners as peaceful, persistent and determined. "In the past ten years, they let me see the extent of the human rights violations in China." She called upon the Australian government to provide more legal help to Falun Gong practitioners' refugee cases. She reminded the Australian government to talk about human rights with Beijing openly and not behind closed doors.

China expert Paul Monk.

Paul Monk is a well-known China issue analyst and author. He worked in the Department of Defense Intelligence Bureau for six years. Mr. Monk said at the rally that there have been many persecution cases in China. However, he felt in the past 30 years, the most brutal and ugly persecution is the one against Falun Gong.

Several days before the rally, Mr. Monk had an article published in Financial Review. In the article he said that the CCP's rule must end. He stated that he wasn't against China, but is against tyranny. It is for the good of the Chinese people. He said if everyone would quit the CCP spontaneously, the CCP will dissolve and it will be a wonderful thing for Chinese people and the world. Mr. Monk also thanked Falun Gong practitioners for speaking out for human rights when the rest of the world kept silent. He called people to pay attention to the persecution of Falun Gong and to never forget what Falun Gong practitioners have done and suffered in the past ten years.

Peter Westmor, chairman of the Australia-based National Civil Council.

Peter Westmor is the chairman of the National Civic Council. He showed his support for Falun Gong practitioners and joined the parade holding a banner in his hands. He started paying attention to Falun Gong after cases of organ removal from living practitioners were exposed. He could not believe it at first. He was shocked when he found out it was really happening.

He went online and searched for key words like 'organ transplant,' 'China.' To his surprise, in less in a minute, Westmor got onto a hospital's website that claimed one could get liver, heart and lung transplants in a week. In Australia, it would take several years' waiting to get an organ transplant.

Mr. Westmor later became a member of CIPFG and has been a great supporter of Falun Gong practitioners' efforts to end the persecution.

Ruan Jie, Editor in Chief of Tiananmen Times, a Chinese newspaper in Melbourne.

Tiananmen Times Editor in Chief Ruan Jie delivered a message at the rally. He said that under the CCP's rule, there will never be real civil groups and freedom of belief. "To stop and end the persecution of religion and Falun Gong, the first thing is to end the rule of the CCP."

Gao Jian, a democratic activist residing in Melbourne, said during an interview, "The nature of the CCP is cruel and demonic. It is impossible for the CCP to change and having any expectation for the CCP is unrealistic."

Wang Ying used to be a lecturer in a university in Beijing before the persecution started. She was sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp in 2002. Tina went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in 2000 and was taken to the Dalian Forced Labor Camp. She arrived in Australia in April 2009. Wang and Tina told the audience what they had experienced in the camps. For many Australians growing up in a democratic society, they had never heard of any of the torture means. On the cold winter day, some people cried as they heard the stories from Wang and Tina.

Ms. Wang said, "In the camp, the guards stripped us and searched us. I protested and guards instigated inmates to beat me. I was forced to sit on a small stool and deprived of sleep for over 20 days. Another practitioner, Wang Yuhua, was forced to stand still against a wall 24 hours a day. She was not allowed to go the bathroom and had to urinate and excrete in her pants. After nine days, Wang's legs lost feeling and she fell on the ground. Her hip fractured but she still had to sit on a small stool. It was very cold in Beijing in December. Guards purposely opened all her windows when she only had a thin shirt on. As a result of all the torture, she became paralyzed from waist down."

The mental torture was even worse than the physical. "The camp often played videos slandering Falun Gong and forced everyone to agree with them. We had to sing before every meal to praise the CCP and to acknowledge that we had committed crimes. We were not allowed to eat if we refused to cooperate. Every night before bed I had to report my day, to give thanks to the CCP and the government for caring for me, to thank the CCP for putting me in the camp to offer me salvation. No one was allowed to cry. Once the guard saw you cry, they considered that you were 'mentally unstable' and need further 'help'."

Tina was from Dalian, Liaoning Province. She described what happened to her in the camp. "I went on a hunger strike in the camp to protest the arrest. The guards put me on a bed and handcuffed me to the rails. A guard instigated an inmate to hit my legs and arms until they were swollen and poured boiling water on my arms."

"The prison doctor inserted tubes from my nose into my stomach. They force fed me. The tubes stayed inside me after force feeding for two days. It was extremely uncomfortable and on the second day, I vomited bile. I was force-fed soy milk once a day without being given any food. The guards forced me to stand for five days straight with the tube in my nose," said Tina.

"Once a guard instigated an inmate to tie me up on iron bars. The inmate stretched my legs and bent them upward. The pain was excruciating. The inmate then kicked my crotch and poured cold water on me. After they put me down, my legs were numb and I couldn't walk for two weeks."

This kind of torture has been taking place in China for the last ten years and is still ongoing.

Shao Zhonghua, Chairman of Falun Dafa Association in Victoria.

Shao Zhonghua was the Chair of the Falun Dafa Association in Victoria. He said at the rally that the persecution must end immediately and Falun Gong practitioners will continue their peaceful protest until the day CCP dissolves and the persecution ends.