Manhattan, New York: Candlelight Vigil Held to End the CCP’s Brutality

(Minghui.org) Practitioners in New York gathered along the Hudson River near the Chinese Consulate on the evening of July 20, 2025, and held a candlelight vigil to mourn Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) practitioners who lost their lives in the 26-year-long persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Displaying banners such as “Falun Dafa,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” and “End the CCP,” practitioners of all ages and ethnic groups told people about Falun Gong and called on them to help end the atrocities.

Candlelight vigil on the evening of July 20, 2025

Practitioners did the Falun Gong exercises and held banners.

Impressed by the peaceful and solemn sight, many pedestrians stopped to take pictures, accepted flyers, and talked with practitioners. Many signed the petitions calling for an end to the tragedy.

A few years after Falun Gong was introduced to the public, then CCP leader Jiang Zemin started a nationwide suppression on July 20, 1999. As the CCP spread lies to defame Falun Gong and mislead the general public, practitioners were detained and tortured for their faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Over the past 26 years, untold numbers of practitioners have been arrested, and their homes searched. They’ve been sent to labor camps, sentenced to prison, held in mental hospitals, tortured, subjected to brainwashing, and even become victims of forced organ harvesting. All these human rights violations were carried out in an attempt to destroy their faith in Falun Gong.

According to Minghui.org, at least 5,238 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have lost their lives during the persecution. The CCP’s crimes are too numerous to list. During this egregious persecution, practitioners around the world have been telling people what Falun Gong is, exposing the brutalities, and exposing the CCP’s slanderous propaganda.

Ms. Xin, a practitioner who was detained in China for practicing Falun Gong, said she was subjected to the “Big Shackles” torture. Her wrists and ankles were shackled together, forcing her to remain bent over. It was extremely painful. According to the prison director, this was the first time this torture had been used since the CCP came to power, and it was not even used on death row prisoners.

Ms. Xin said, “The shackle chain is extremely long and heavy. When one is forced to walk, the head is low, the hips are high, and the hands have to grasp the feet. It is only possible to move slowly, a few centimeters at a time, and the body is extremely difficult to control. If you lose your balance, you will fall down. It was so painful that seconds felt like years.”

In October 1999, Ms. Xin also witnessed plainclothes officers lifting Falun Gong practitioners (who’d come to Beijing to appeal) by their hands and feet and throwing them into military trucks like they were, “throwing cabbages.” After the truck was full, it drove away and immediately returned to load another batch. One officer said, “All these people were taken to the Northeast.” In 2006, a witness made public the CCP’s live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners for the first time and pointed out that a large number of Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Sujiatun and Masanjia Forced Labor Camps in Liaoning Province, where their organs were harvested while they were alive.

Ms. Yang, another practitioner who was tortured and forced to do slave labor in China for practicing Falun Gong, told how her home was searched three times, she was fired from her job twice, she endured two years of forced labor, and her household registration was canceled. In the labor camp, Ms. Yang said she was only allowed to sleep four hours a day. The excessive slave labor took a great toll on her body and mind. She was left out in the blazing sun for ten hours at a time and was made to squat for hours. She later had a heart attack, went into shock, and was in a coma. She was released on parole for medical care. Practitioners who were detained at the same time were force-fed, shocked with electric batons, and doused with cold water after they were stripped. Some became mentally ill.

Four local residents say they support Falun Gong practitioners.

Four Chinese men who live nearby came later in the evening to express their support. They raised their arms and shouted, “Support Falun Gong! Stop the persecution of Falun Gong! Stop the CCP’s transnational suppression!” They then took part in the candlelight vigil.

“A little candlelight, one story after another, telling of the compassion and strength of practitioners...” As the song was heard at the solemn scene, hundreds of practitioners sat quietly with lit candles, hoping that more people will know the facts about Falun Dafa and benefit from the practice.