On Sunday 29th October, a day after a successful Falun Gong presentation at the Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore, around 70 practitioners from the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Toowoomba, again presented Falun Gong in the grand annual Tropicarnival Parade at the Gold Coast. Practitioners held a group practice at Cascade Gardens in the morning before the parade started, all wearing yellow T-shirts, bearing the messages "China: Stop Persecuting Falun Gong" "Falun Gong is Good".
The parade started at noon. Our procession was led by a lead-car decorated with Falun Dafa banners and balloons. Practitioners marched with Dafa music reverberating in the air and Dafa banners and flags flying in the breeze. When our procession walked past the rostrum, master of ceremonies for the occasion announced in loud and clear voice, "Here comes the contingent of Falun Gong. They are cultivation practitioners who follow the principles of the universe - Zhen-Shan-Ren, or Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in English. Let us give them a warm welcome!" With this announcement, a loud applause burst out from the audience. People with cameras rushed over to take photos of this unusual procession. Some were so impressed that they walked into the procession and posed for pictures with our practitioners and Dafa banners. Practitioners warmly waved back and gave away Dafa balloons to the children in the crowd. Some spectators, after reading out "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" on the flags, put up a thumb or took their hat off to show respect and support. When a float with Father Christmas sitting on top drove past us, Father Christmas shouted out with joy, "China Falun Gong is good!" The parade lasted over an hour and we all felt it was another successful presentation of Falun Dafa to the general public.
Falun Dafa practitioners in Queensland