On November 9, the Falun Dafa practitioners of Sydney held a large-scale activity for the purpose of clarifying the truth about Falun Gong that began at 11 AM and lasted four hours.
Over one hundred practitioners joined the parade in front of Sydney Civic Hall at 11 AM. While the solemn and stirring music of "Salvation For All" and "Helping The World" played, several dozen female practitioners in white clothing led the parade, holding wreaths. Some practitioners carried banners and others carried color pamphlets that tell the true facts about Falun Gong. Along the parade route practitioners handed the pamphlets to the pedestrians passing by. Around noon, there were even more pedestrians on the street, and this solemn and stirring scene touched them. Some of them asked for more material for their relatives and friends; some gathered to read the material; some told the practitioners in a heartfelt way: "I support your Falun Gong."
After the parade of about one and one-half hours, practitioners gathered in Hyde Park to demonstrate the five sets of exercises and to make speeches to the public. The first speaker was a teenage Dafa practitioner. She talked about the experience of the Dafa practitioners of her age in China who suffered inhumane treatment just because they themselves, or their parents, are Dafa practitioners, and appealed to the kind people to extend a helping hand.
Ms. Zhang had just returned from China and she talked about the extremely inhumane treatment she suffered in the prisons of China. Another practitioner exposed the activities of Jiang Zemin's men who harassed Dafa practitioners and sabotaged their Dafa activities in Australia. A practitioner, who went to China to uphold Dafa, representing over forty Dafa practitioners in Australia, read an indictment of Jiang Zemin. The facts revealed in the indictment were so shocking that many people shed tears with. After reading the truth-clarifying materials handed out by practitioners, two western people said right away that they would write letters to speak up impartially for Falun Gong.
During the speeches, the Chinese government also dispatched someone to the park. He talked and gesticulated with Western practitioners, but he did not dare to face a reporter's video camera when the reporter handed him a business card and wanted to interview him. We suggest to fellow practitioners in other countries that, if you encounter similar situations in the future, please take these agents' pictures at the first opportunity, and release them to the public media.
It is worth mentioning that during the whole day's activities, there were no police present to maintain order. Usually, during a parade, the police come to lead the way and maintain order. This time, due to their trust of Falun Dafa, the police told the practitioners that it was OK for them to make their own arrangements. Through the unremitting efforts of Dafa practitioners to clarify the truth to the people of the world over the past year, the relevant authorities in the Australian government indeed have more understanding and trust for Dafa practitioners now.
During the activity, a plainclothes federal policeman stayed with us. He said that his responsibility was to protect Australian citizens' legal activities from being interfered with or violated by the personnel of foreign governments. From speaking with him we learned that he trusted us practitioners very much and had acquainted himself with a lot of information about Dafa over the Internet. He had also determined to practice Dafa cultivation himself.
From the bottom of our hearts, we hope that through activities such as ours more people with a predestined relationship can hear about Dafa, awaken quickly, and find their original true selves in Dafa.
Reported by Dafa practitioners in Australia November 12, 2000
Category: Rallies & Protests
