Candlelight Vigil in New Jersey (Photo)

(Clearwisdom.net) On the night of April 25, 2002, a Falun Gong candlelight vigil organized by Friends of Falun Gong, Amnesty International and Falun Gong practitioners was held on the plaza of the Student Center of the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Over one hundred supporters from various occupations and Falun Gong practitioners participated in this 3-hour commemoration event. Medias including Rutgers Daily News, World Journal and The Epoch Times interviewed and reported the event. The event started and ended with all Falun Gong practitioners' sending forth righteous thoughts.

Send forth righteous thoughts together	State representative Mr. Upendra Chivukula makes a speech at the event	Exposing the evil crimes of Jiang's Regime
Supporters put on badge "SOS! Urgent Call to Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted in China"	Supporters take action	Students ask how they could support Falun Gong

Mr. Adler, Executive President of Friends of Falun Gong gave an opening address. He reviewed the three-year-long brutal persecution against innocent Falun Gong practitioners in China starting from April 25, 1999 and the peaceful journey of Falun Gong practitioners' appeal and protest against the illegal persecution. He warned Jiang 's regime that American people were taking actions to support and work for those being deprived of their freedom and human rights. He stated that Jiang regime's campaign of lies has totally failed and the persecution must stop immediately. He called on all attendants to share what they had learned tonight with their parents, teachers, Representatives and the President: the persecution against Falun Gong in China is based on lies and fabrications.

After the speech, all attendants stood in silence for one minute to commemorate those practitioners tortured to death by Jiang's regime and for all the victims being persecuted across the world.

Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey wrote a letter to support the candlelight vigil event.

Representative Chivukula of District 17 spoke to the audiences. He strongly condemned the Chinese dictator Jiang's suppression of Falun Gong. He insisted, "Practicing Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance is absolutely righteous. People must have the freedom to have beliefs." Mr. Chivukula was very supportive to Falun Gong when he was the Mayor of Franklin City and he issued proclamations including the "Falun Dafa Week."

Ms. Linda Stamato, Dean of Douglass College, the largest women's college of the United States, sent a supporting letter to the event. In the letter she praised Falun Dafa for its transcending different cultures, societies, economies and borders of countries. She supports freedom of speech and gave full support to our Falun Gong Candlelight Vigil. She encouraged all students to attend the event and offer their supports to those Chinese students who were put into jails and forced labor camps simply because of their belief in and practice of Falun Gong as being reported in many international medias.

The leader of Amnesty International Rutgers University, Mr. Paul Tepper came to speak for the event immediately after the class. He stated, "It is not Falun Gong, but the illegal persecution against Falun Gong that brings crisis to the Chinese government. Amnesty International fully supports Falun Gong."

One westerner practitioner who had been to Beijing to peacefully appeal for a stop to the persecution recently talked about the ill-treatment that westerner practitioners received in Beijing and the brutal torture that Chinese practitioners suffered.

Two practitioners who had just come back from participating in the activity in Germany during Jiang's state visit recounted their experience and how Jiang was afraid of Dafa practitioners. He didn't even dare to look at any yellow and blue clothing that Falun Gong practitioners often wear. The people in Germany have enjoyed a democracy for many years. But Jiang's visit brought a lot of trouble to the German people and aroused strong complaints from them. Even the police were forced to do things that conflicted with the German law due to pressure and they apologized to the practitioners in private afterwards.

During the event, the practitioners also played video programs "Falun Dafa in New Jersey", "Peaceful Journey of Falun Gong" and "Human Rights Violation (Against Falun Gong practitioners)". The leader of Amnesty International, Mr. Paul Tepper was nearly moved to tears after he had watched these programs. He also expressed his interest to learn the Falun Dafa exercises.

Many students attended the event and watched the video. They read the truth-clarifying materials and asked questions about Falun Gong. They put on fluorescent bars to symbolize candlelight and badges, which had, "SOS! Urgent Call to Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners Being Persecuted in China" printed on them and they also signed their names to express support. Many people started to learn the Falun Gong exercises on the site.

During the whole day of April 25, 2002, it drizzled all the time. Around 3 p.m., some practitioners suggested sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil interferences. After several rounds of sending righteous thoughts, at 6 p.m., the rain stopped, the dark clouds disappeared and the sky turned clear. The practitioners deeply experienced the power of righteous thoughts.

At 11 p.m., in response to the proposal of Falun Gong practitioners, all attendants sat down to send forth righteous thoughts together to eliminate the evil. The candlelight vigil was then finished.

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