(Minghui.org) Australian Falun Gong practitioners held an event on August 9, 2014 to raise awareness of the 15-year persecution going on in China. The event was held in Parramatta, a major business district in the metropolitan area of Sydney. Practitioners displayed posters that provided information about Falun Gong and how it has been severely persecuted. They collected signatures calling for an end to the persecution and many expressed their support.

Two city councilors expressed their concerns about the persecution. One of them, James Shaw, called upon Australians, saying, “I’m supportive of this petition and this bill. I’m opposed to what’s going on in China and the human rights abusers. Every human being should be treated with dignity and I think that it is important for people in Australia to stand up and speak about that.”

Mr. Shaw saw the event as he passed by and asked practitioners about the suppression. He said that he had received a defamatory letter in the past, making him curious about Falun Gong. He thanked practitioners for explaining the facts to him and signed the petition to support it.

Parramatta city councilor James Shaw learned about Falun Gong

Councilors Speak Out

Andrew Wilson, a Parramatta city councilor, came to the event to express his support. He said to a practitioner, “[The persecution] is quite terrible ... We saw the Cultural Revolution. We saw many indignities and tortures [the CCP] have inflicted on people who disagree with them and when you see the persecution of Falun Dafa, it certainly makes you wonder if they are moving forward or backsliding.”

He asked rhetorically when talking about the subject of forced organ harvesting conducted by the CCP, “How would you feel if you were the mother or the father of someone who was executed, who has their organs taken without their permission...? Again if a person decides to donate his organs that’s one thing, but how can we even be certain of that process when a person is imprisoned and under the terrible collusion that we know that the communist system can apply.”

Mr. Wilson concluded his remarks with another question, “The real problem I ask the Chinese government is the Falun Dafa people believe in harmonious action, in peace, in forbearance, in trying to make a good clean and prosperous china. Why would you persecute them? What is the possible gain you can get from your country out of this? So lets just talk sense.”

Australian Lady: Live Organ Harvesting Is Real

Many people were shocked by the terrible torture that practitioners have suffered for their belief. A young couple who recently moved to Parramatta not only signed the petition, but also asked if practitioners accepted donations. A tourist from Hong Kong also did the same.

Practitioners explaining to pedestrians about the persecution

Rae, an Australian lady, said that she had heard negative comments about Falun Gong in the past. “Now I know that was propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Falun Gong practitioners are so nice and peaceful. I like them.” Based on her experience with the CCP, she knew that live organ harvesting was real.

Sabish, a Fijian who currently lives in Parramatta, has signed several petitions to support Falun Gong's peaceful resistance.

“The CCP is killing people—innocent people—and selling their organs while they are still alive. That is murder and it has lasted a long time. But we have not put much effort into stopping it.” He suggested contacting the Australian government to do something to help those vulnerable, innocent people.

“These goodhearted people should not be murdered. Australia, and all other nations, need to stop this brutality,” he said.