(Minghui.org) The Fremont Festival of the Arts is the largest two-day street festival west of the Mississippi River. 2013 marks the festival's 30 ^th anniversary. Organizers estimated that approximately 400,000 people attended the event.

Falun Gong practitioners participated and collected signatures to call for an end to the forced organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China.

People condemned these inhuman atrocities and nearly a thousand people signed the petition.

People visit Falun Gong practitioners' booth to learn the facts about the brutal persecution, particularly the forced live organ harvesting atrocities committed by the CCP

A family of four signs the petition after learning about the CCP's atrocities

A couple signs the petition

A mother and daughter sign the petition

Passersby sign the petition

A passerby learns to do the Falun Gong exercises

Falun Gong practitioners came to downtown Fremont early Saturday morning, August 3, to set up a booth in the free speech zone provided by organizers. They displayed posters illustrating the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners while they are still alive.

People were shocked at the horrific photos and illustration, and asked, “Is the persecution of Falun Gong still going on?” After they were told about the live organ harvesting, they described it as “too evil,” “horrible,” and “barbaric.” Many passersby walked up to the practitioners' booth to sign the petition which calls for an end to such an unprecedented criminal act.

Mollyanne Sherman from Newark said that she had heard about the persecution a few years ago, but never thought that it was still going on. She said that the CCP's live organ harvesting is completely wrong, and condemned it as, “a barbaric act.”

“This is horrible!” exclaimed Fremont resident Penny Cshemlew. She said, “They remove people's organs this way and sold them for profit. They take no regard of people's lives, it's horrific!”

Another Fremont resident Judith McLrinty walked up to the practitioners' booth and asked to sign the petition. She said that she had learned about the persecution of Falun Gong in China ten years ago. “The CCP is too cruel to Chinese people. We should let more people learn about this. I support your effort!” she said.

Peggie Linde signed the petition and also asked her friends to sign. She said that she had learned about Falun Gong a few years ago, and often saw practitioners participating in local parades. She called for an end to the CCP's atrocities of harvesting organs from certain groups of people. She told practitioners she supported their efforts to end the persecution.

Background

The signature drive started a few weeks ago across the San Francisco Bay area.

It was initiated when House Resolution 281 was introduced by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in June. The resolution calls on China to immediately stop the practice of organ harvesting from its prisoners, particularly from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and “members of other religious and ethnic minority groups.”

Many people have become increasingly aware of the atrocity and condemn it. Some people carefully read the Resolution 281, and said that they would write to their local representatives, requesting that they sign the resolution as co-sponsors. Some said that they would tell their doctor friends about the CCP's crime of harvesting organs from living people, and make sure the U.S. medical community knows about it.