(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners and supporters held a rally in front of the Sydney Town Hall on July 17, 2025, to protest the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 26-year-long persecution.
Elected officials and other invited guests commended practitioners for their courage and perseverance in safeguarding freedom of belief and peacefully protesting the persecution. They called on the Australian Government to pay attention to China’s human rights issues and take action to urge the CCP stop the persecution and transnational repression of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa).
People stopped to listen to the Tian Guo Marching Band play during the rally.
Practitioners demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises.
People listen to rally speakers.
China Expert Admires Falun Gong
Feng Chongyi, China Expert and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, speaking at the rally
Professor Feng said in the rally, “I respect you. I am deeply impressed by your courage, your wisdom, and your resilience to stand up for your principles of Truthfulness Compassion, and Forbearance, over 26 years of brutal communist suppression.
“I condemn this brutal dark regime that uses all its resources to persecute those who pursue their own physical and mental health.”
He said that one cannot take away the dignity and aspiration of an ordinary person. He commended the practitioners and said they were heroes.
He noted the dangers Australia faces in its engagement with the CCP: “Flattering the communist regime to pursue certain commercial interests [comes] at the expense of Australia’s core values, including human rights, freedom and democracy—everything that we stand for.
“When we stand together, this brutal regime without any legitimacy will collapse...freedom will prevail, human rights will prevail, truth will prevail.”
The CCP Regime Is a Criminal Gang
Professor David Flint, recipient of the Order of Australia and a senior legal scholar, addressed the rally.
Professor David Flint observed that Falun Gong was reviving the Chinese people’s traditional values and beliefs, which the CCP sought to destroy for decades.
He referred to an order from Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP: “Bankrupt them financially, ruin their reputations, and destroy them physically.”
Professor Flint said, “It is disgraceful—a government ordering that their citizens be destroyed physically. That’s a shocking thing.”
He noted, “China’s leaders are all millionaires; they are all very rich... In destroying them [practitioners] physically, the communists decided that they should make a profit from the destruction of Falun Gong, so they decided to sell off their organs, livers and hearts, and set up a trade for organs-on-demand.
“It is not a government in China. It is a criminal enterprise.”
Professor Flint expressed hope that the Australian government will actually do something in relation to China and the Chinese people who are suffering under the CCP.
Safeguarding the Universal Values of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance
Craig Kelly, former Member of Australian Parliament, speaking at the rally
Mr. Kelly explained that about 20 years ago when he was traveling in China, he saw the CCP’s propaganda slandering Falun Gong in brochures advertising tourist events in a tourist hotel.
“I was trying to figure out why would they do that against a group of people that simply believe in basic freedoms, basic human rights, and practice meditation and exercise. It never ever made sense to me. But over recent years I’ve learnt that Falun Gong is all about Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. That is the exact opposite of what communism is.
“A communist regime hates people that follow Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance because that leads to independent thought.
“It took me years to work that out and that is why now I am a great supporter of Falun Gong.
“Those principles are basic; they should be principles across the world. We are here today to raise our voices, to commemorate 26 years of struggle, and vow that we will continue to stand up for as long as it takes for those three basic principles.”
Hopes the Australian Government Urges the CCP to Stop the Persecution
Dr. Lucy Zhao, President of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, addressed the rally.
Dr. Zhao said, “The persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999 and still continues today after 26 years. Millions of Falun Gong practitioners have suffered brutal persecution because they refused to compromise with the CCP's pressure to give up their belief. They want to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to be a good person.”
She said the CCP’s campaign to deny Falun Gong’s freedom of belief also extends all over the world. “The CCP is the largest threat to the free world. Its transnational repression extends the persecution and intimidation into a free country like Australia. It has been threatening Falun Gong practitioners in Australia as well as their family members in China. It also threatens Australian politicians, councils, and government to not support the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners.
“We hope the Australian government can do similar to the US, Canada, and European Parliament. They have all passed laws, resolutions, and motions to support Falun Gong and urge China to stop the persecution, to stop forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.”
We Stand with You
Bahtiyar Bora, President of the Australian Uyghur Association, addressed the rally.
Mr. Bora extended solidarity and his deepest respect to the Falun Gong community on behalf the Australian Uyghur Association. He said, “Today, as you gather in peaceful resistance, we stand beside you, not only as witness to injustice but as partners in the struggle for dignity, freedom, and the truth.
“Like Falun Gong practitioners, the Uyghur people have endured unspeakable suffering under the Chinese communist regime. We know what it means to be silenced, to be criminalized for our faith, and to have our very existence denied.
“Your struggle, strength, your peaceful resilience, and your commitment to compassion in the face of cruelty is inspiring. To our Falun Gong brothers and sisters, we see you, we honor you, and we stand with you.”
Every Ordinary Human Being Should Stand with the Persecuted
Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat, addressed the rally.
Mr. Chen, a former Chinese Consular official in Sydney, told how the CCP demonized Falun Gong practitioners and tortured them to renounce their beliefs. “Twenty-six years ago, there were not many people [in the West] who spoke out for Falun Gong. This encouraged the Chinese regime to continue persecuting Falun Gong and other groups, including Uyghurs and Tibetans.”
However, Mr. Chen noted, now there is the Falun Gong Protection Act that was passed in the US House of Representatives and an awakening to the danger of the CCP’s United Front work and transnational repression, which also impacts Australia.
“Australia cannot benefit from being friends with a communist China. China is the largest human rights abuse country. Every ordinary human being should stand with the persecuted, not with the persecutors.”
Ahmed Ouf, City Councilor of Cumberland, speaking at the rally
Councilor Ahmed Ouf explained that he was honored to speak at the rally after he learned about the atrocities that Falun Gong practitioners in China are being subjected to. “No human being should [suffer] torture, killing, and persecution... we all should stand against what is happening by the regime in China.
“As an elected Councilor I will do my best, I will raise awareness in my community, and help in any way I can to hopefully alleviate some of the pain that you are going through.”
Alan Green, City Councilor of Blacktown, speaking at the rally
Mr. Green said, “China has benefited from trade with the Western world, and they should also adopt the Western world’s values of fairness and compassion. I appeal to them. I also appeal to the Australian federal government to acknowledge the human rights issues in China and to make the necessary approaches to the Chinese communist government to review and withdraw their persecution of minority groups, especially the Falun Gong, Christians, and the Muslim groups in China.”
Commending Chinese Practitioners’ Courage and Compassion
John Deller, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, addressed the rally.
Mr. Deller said, “After the persecution began in China in July 1999, Chinese practitioners kept their faith and stood up for their belief to protect the principles of Zhen Shan Ren—Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
“What does Zhen mean? It means being honest, it means having integrity, not to lie, and not to accept lies. Yet the CCP system is built on lies, it is built on lying. And the only way to survive or prosper in China is to accept living under a system of lying. It is a form of insanity inflicted on the Chinese people.
“And what accompanies lies is violence. If you don’t accept what the communist party says, you will suffer violence and will also become the people who are persecuted.
“It is the great courage and compassion of Chinese practitioners that we commemorate and celebrate today as they continue to righteously and peacefully protect their faith.
“This is not just a China issue, it is not just about Falun Gong practitioners suffering, it is also about the Chinese Communist Party’s interference in Australia, its lies and deceit, and that is something that concerns all of us.”
Practitioners talk with passersby and collect signatures.
Practitioners held a candlelight vigil to commemorate the practitioners who died in the CCP’s persecution.
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Category: July 20 Events
