(Minghui.org) As peaceful protests were held around the world to call attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 23-year-long persecution of Falun Dafa, practitioners held activities on Cairns Esplanade in the city center on July 16, 2022. They demonstrated the exercises, handed out information about Falun Dafa and told people about the regime’s crimes against humanity and called for the persecution to end.

Practitioners held activities on Cairns Esplanade on July 16, 2022 including demonstrating the exercises.

Cairns is the starting point for many tourist groups traveling to the Great Barrier Reef, and Cairns Esplanade was crowded that day. As practitioners demonstrated the exercises, many stopped to watch. Some signed the petition to end the brutality after being told about the severity of the persecution including organ harvesting. They also said they were impressed by the practitioners’ perseverance in clarifying the truth rain or shine.

Passersby Encourage Practitioners’ Efforts

As practitioners handed out fliers, many people came up to learn about the practice as well as the persecution. One young woman wept when she heard that practitioners’ organs were removed without consent and sold for profit. She said she could not believe such terrible things are happening.

One man came with his family and said, “I must sign the petition, I know the terrible truth of the persecution. I want to help stop this.”

A family from India stopped and chatted with practitioners. They were shocked to hear of the CCP’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners while they were still alive. The four of them, including the parents, son and daughter, signed the petition to express their support for the practitioners’ efforts calling for an end to the CCP’s atrocities.

Candlelight Vigil

That night practitioners held a candlelight to commemorate victims of the persecution.

Originally from Poland, Danuta has been practicing Falun Dafa for 19 years. She said, “At first I did not know what it meant to cultivate. Through reading the main book Zhuan Falun, I gradually understood the benefits of practicing cultivation. When I guided my actions using the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, my life began to undergo a significant change. I changed from having an introverted, depressed state of mind due to a tragic family incident to becoming calm, relaxed and kind to others.

Danuta does the fifth Falun Dafa exercise – the sitting meditation.

She said, “With other practitioners’ help I began to learn English. Now I can talk to people in English and tell them about the persecution. I learned to read Zhuan Falun in English. I hand out information hoping to help people learn the truth so that they can help end the persecution.”

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.