Florida: Falun Dafa Practitioners Held a Rally to Mark 23-Years of Persecution in China

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Florida held a rally at North Straub Park in Saint Petersburg’s city center on July 16, 2022. They called for the international community to help end the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s persecution of Falun Dafa.

The CCP launched the persecution on July 20, 1999, and has continued its suppression against Falun Dafa practitioners for 23 years.

Practitioners gathered at North Straub Park in Saint Petersburg city center and demonstrated the slow and gentle exercises of Falun Dafa. They talked to passersby about the goodness of Dafa and the inhumane cruel persecution of the spiritual practice by the communist regime in China.

Many local residents and tourists stopped to look at the display boards and take photos. Some voluntarily signed the petition calling for an end to the persecution after listening to the practitioners’truth-clarification.

Falun Dafa practitioners gather at North Straub Park in Saint Petersburg, Florida, on July 16, 2022.

Two people learn the Falun Dafa exercises right on the spot.

Vietnamese American Community Representative: The CCP’s Evil Deeds Must Stop

Vietnamese American Community representative Ms. Anh Truong Nguyen attended the rally to show her support.

Ms. Anh Truong Nguyen is the person in charge of the Tampa region’s Vietnamese American Community. She is also the Far East Asia representative of Hillsborough County’s Diversity Advisory Committee. She said that she came to the rally especially to show her support for practitioners because she was also a victim of communist ideology.

“Today, I participate in this activity so as to tell people that we all have freedom for our beliefs. We encourage people to become good people and live in harmony. However, the Communist Party is afraid of that because it provokes people to start a revolution. As such, it is afraid of the people’s powers and Falun Dafa’s popularity. Therefore, it persecutes Falun Dafa. I saw that the CCP harvests the Falun Dafa practitioners’ organs while they are alive. This is too horrible and is a criminal act against humanity. We should expose the Communist Party’s evil acts for our beliefs and human rights,” she said.

Ms. Anh Truong Nguyen commended Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and said, “It is just too good. Not only does it benefit the elderly, but I feel that we must also ask young people to join in. We need to input these values into the curriculum of our schools.”

Family of An Illegally-Detained Practitioner Call for People to Recognize the CCP’s Nature

Ms. You Ling hopes that all the Chinese people will see through the CCP’s lies.

Ms. You Ling immigrated from the Shengli Oilfield in Shandong Province, China, and currently resides in Florida. Her husband Mr. Zhou Deyong is a senior geological engineer and an appointed technician for Shengli Oilfield. Her husband was arrested in their home in Dongying in Shandong last year for his faith in Falun Dafa. The CCP’s police raided their home and confiscated more than 100 Falun Dafa books and truth-clarification booklets.

Ms.You said, “My husband was arrested in late April 2021 because he practices Falun Dafa, and he has been detained for more than a year. The authorities have stopped reviewing his case, but they haven’t released my husband. I can only communicate with him through his lawyer.”

Ms. You hopes that the Chinese people will not be deceived by the fabrications in the regime’s media and recognize the CCP’s nature and awaken soon.

“I hope that all Chinese people will not be taken in by the CCP’s lies,” she said. “During past political movements, the communist regime first framed their targets before bringing them down.

“I met a Chinese lady today who saw me wearing a yellow Falun Dafa T-shirt and said to me, ‘In the past, I believed the CCP’s media fabrications and thought that Falun Dafa was not good. After coming overseas, with the freedom to access information, I learned that Falun Dafa is not like what the Party claimed it to be. What the Party says is all lies.’”

People Support Falun Dafa: “The Persecution Makes People Heartbroken”

From left to right, Fernando Cortez, Taylor McKinley, and Simona Zapata.

Fernando Cortez, Taylor McKinley, and Simona Zapata approached the site where the Falun Dafa practitioners were holding the event because they wanted to learn more about Falun Dafa.

Fernando Cortez is originally from San Francisco but he moved to Florida. He works in digital media advertising. He said, “I have seen the persecution that Falun Dafa has gone through on social media. It is unbelievable. The practitioners are being detained in labor camps and the persecution that they suffer from makes people heartbroken.”

Taylor McKinley works for a global health company. She said, “I just learned about the persecution of Falun Dafa this year. I started to take more notice of it. It’s unbelievable that such persecution could actually happen in today’s society. It’s too crazy.”

Simona Zapata is from California and was in Florida visiting her friends Fernando Cortez and Taylor McKinley. She said, “I have seen reports about the live organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners on social media. It is really a pity that many media are not reporting it. Some technology companies have sealed off many reports that expose the evil acts of the CCP and mislead people to make the CCP happy.”