(Clearwisdom.net) Editor's Note: To commemorate the eleventh anniversary of the April 25 Appeal, Clearwisdom presents this as one of a series of republished articles from years past. The April 25th Appeal was notable not only for its size, but also because it was remarkably peaceful and orderly. Some 10,000 practitioners gathered in central Beijing that day, peacefully protesting for their civil rights. The CCP propaganda machine, however, in its quest to crush Falun Gong at the bidding of then Party Chairman Jiang Zemin, twisted the facts to serve its own motives. To this day, CCP propaganda accuses Falun Gong of "laying siege to the Zhongnanhai Central Government Compound" on April 25, 1999, falsely alleging that the 10,000 gathered posed a violent threat to the nation and its leaders. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, as this series of articles documents from various angles.
I was born and grew up in Beijing. I was at the April 25th Peaceful Appeal in 1999. I'm including some photos that have never been published before in order to show what really happened at the April 25th Peaceful Appeal.
This photo was taken on April 25, 1999, from the rear window of a bus that was going from north to south on Fuyou Street. Falun Gong practitioners are on the left side of the photo and the red wall on the right is Zhongnanhai. Between the practitioners and Zhongnanhai is Fuyou Street.
I was standing at the north end of Fuyou Street when I took the photo facing south. On the left side is Zhongnanhai, and on the right are practitioners staging a peaceful appeal. Fuyou Street is between the practitioners and Zhongnanhai. Standing across the street are plainclothes officers and uniformed police blocking the road.
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street (Not published before)
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street (Not published before)
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street (Not published before)
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street (Not published before)
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street (Not published before)
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street
Falun Gong practitioners standing on the sidewalk at the west side of Fuyou Street (The photo was taken from west to east. You can see the west side entrance of Zhongnanhai.)
Source: http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/5/22/107616.html