US Mid-West Region: Activities for Spreading Falun Gong and Appealing for Justice

October 1^st is China's national day, however, due to the willful acts of Jiang Zemin and a few others in Mainland China, Dafa (great law of the universe) has been wronged, and numerous fellow practitioners have been suffering. Even though we have been appealing through multiple channels for over a year now, Jiang Zemin still has no intention of mending his ways and has shown no sign of repentance. In order to make the truth known to more people, and to express our support for fellow practitioners in China, Falun Dafa practitioners in the mid-west region voluntarily carried out a series of activities to appeal and to promote the Fa.

1. On September 30^th, several dozen practitioners from the states of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri came together with local practitioners from Chicago to peacefully appeal in front of the Chinese consulate. They called on the Chinese government to stop the brutality of Jiang Zemin and a few others who have been ruthlessly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for selfish personal interest.

After several months of our spreading Dafa and clarifying the truth about Falun Gong, many people have already gained some understanding of Falun Gong. Pedestrians and vehicles passing by often expressed their support and asked for materials.

Chinese language media such as the World Journal, as well as English language media such as the Chicago Sun Times (newspaper) and FOX TV station interviewed us during this activity.

2. On the morning of September 30^th, there was going to be a parade in downtown Chicago to celebrate China's national day. Some people suggested that we participate. The consulate general, Wei Ruixing from the Chinese consulate was also in the parade. Upon seeing Falun Gong practitioners in Yellow T-shirts, the organizers were very angry and blamed us saying, "this is such a happy day, why are you here to make trouble?" Our practitioners replied very politely, "We are not here to make trouble. Falun Gong is the cream of the crop of Chinese national culture. We are not against any government. And we also love our motherland very much. We hope to promote the best from our country and to make our motherland prosperous." There were not many people watching the parade, but practitioners handed out many materials to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa to participants of the parade. Throughout the entire activity, practitioners always had compassionate hearts. They patiently explained to the people, who had concerns, that we did not intend to recruit everyone to come and practise Falun Gong. Rather, we hoped that people could have a chance to learn about the truth about Falun Gong, instead of being deceived by the mistaken propaganda controlled by Jiang Zemin. His suppression of his own people during the past year has caused the people to lose their trust in him.

In the afternoon, on the busiest street of Chicago, Michigan Ave., some practitioners were still handing out materials to promote the Fa and clarify the truth.

3. On the morning of October 1^st, practitioners came to Olive Park for practice. During the Chicago Fa-conference last year, Teacher had come here in person to help us practice. After the windy storms of this past year, we came here again feeling the boundless compassion and the ardent expectations our Teacher holds for us.

In the morning, when we heard that over a thousand Falun Gong practitioners were arrested on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, we immediately applied for a permit, and went again to the Chinese consulate to peacefully appeal. We called upon the Chinese government to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and to release all detained and jailed practitioners. The same as the day before, practitioners held several horizontal banners, display boards and practiced the exercises repeatedly, in order to express our concern about our fellow practitioners in China.

As overseas practitioners, we are closely related to fellow practitioners in China, and we will pay close attention, as always, to the development of the situation in China.

Practitioners practice and appeal in front of the Chineseá consulate	Telling the truth to people on Michigan Ave.	Practicing in Olive Park