(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners in the Greater New York Area protested in front of the Chinese Consulate on the evening of July 20, 2011, against the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners over the past twelve years. Dressed in yellow T-shirts and holding pictures of persecution victims, Falun Gong practitioners mourned their fellow practitioners who died in the persecution and called for it to end.
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Falun Gong practitioners hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York.
On July 20 twelve years ago, the CCP regime launched a brutal and systematic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners who follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Slanders of Falun Gong inundated the Chinese media. Practitioners were thrown into forced labor camps and prisons, and were cruelly tortured. According to the Minghui website, the confirmed number of deaths has reached 3428 as of July 20, 2011.
Falun Gong practitioners in New York held a one-hour-long rally before the vigil. Ms. Yi Rong, Chair of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP, said 98,980,000 people had quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Falun Gong practitioners are saving people through their work against the persecution, and have made a miraculous accomplishment in leading people quit the CCP, the Youth League and Young Pioneers peacefully.
Mr. Wang Zhiyuan from the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) said that in addition to lawsuits against the chief perpetrators around the world, the CIPFG has established a tracking and monitoring system in more than seventy countries. The only way out for the persecutors was to cooperate with the investigation and make amends for their crimes by doing good deeds.
Ms. Jiao Jian, former General Manager of the Sohu Network, Guangzhou Branch, said, “I'm fortunate to come to this free society and make my voice heard. However, people in China don't have this opportunity...The practitioners there are having a hard time. But they don't hold hatred, because they can see the true victims of the persecution are those who still hold illusions about the CCP. There are many kind people among them. It would be a great pity if they are buried with the CCP.” This was the first July 20 that Ms. Jiao spent in a free society. July 20 is the anniversary of the day the CCP first arrested Falun Gong practitioners. She was arrested in 2001 just for owning Falun Gong books. She was tortured with a method called “rope tying” when she refused to give up her faith. In 2002, she was sent to a labor camp for two and a half years.
Mr. Niu Jinping, a Falun Gong practitioner from China, said that he was saddened that he recognized more than twenty victims among the three thousand pictures of deceased Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Niu managed to come to the U.S. three weeks ago. He has witnessed the support of Falun Gong in the international community.
Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York wrote a support letter on the eve of July 20. She wrote, "Since its inception, Falun Dafa has been the inspiration for the cultivation of peace. Its teachings are of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Falun Dafa aspires to enable its practitioners to ascend spiritually through moral rectitude and the practice of the five exercises--four standing and one seated meditation. It is my hope that your efforts and the collective efforts of all Falun Dafa supporters will inspire others to take part in actions large and small, public and private, to build stronger communities and a better New York."
Representatives Eliot Engel and Yvette Clarke of New York also wrote support letters condemning the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong and praising Falun Gong practitioners' spirit of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.
The candlelight vigil started at 8:30 p.m. Facing twelve years of persecution, Falun Gong practitioners remain steadfast to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.
