(Clearwisdom.net) On September 20-24, 2004, the 59^th Session of the UN General Assembly was held in New York, and heads of governments and senior officials from countries around the world converged in New York to attend the summit. Practitioners from Toronto, along with Falun Gong practitioners from around the world, also gathered in New York to display the beauty and peace of Falun Gong to the public, in the hopes that government officials and the media could learn about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong initiated and directed by former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who also extended the persecution and hate propaganda to other countries.

During the summit, Falun Gong practitioners held a series of truth clarification activities, including press conferences, live anti-torture exhibits, the "Great Wall of Courage," and group practice of the exercises. Toronto practitioners joined the truth clarification at street corners. During the one-week activity, practitioners happened to meet many delegates and media members that attended the summit, handing out Falun Dafa information and materials to them, and explaining to them the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution happening in China. Practitioners also noticed that more and more New Yorkers have learned the truth about Falun Gong, and they condemned the persecution and supported the Falun Gong practitioners' righteous acts. On the one-week trip to New York, there occurred many interesting stories. The following are several episodes.

Live anti-torture exhibit beside the hotel where delegates of the summit stayed

People learn the facts beside the anti-torture exhibit

People are startled by the brutality of the persecution

People are startled by the brutality of the persecution

People who learned the truth sign the petition to condemn the persecution

People who learned the truth sign the petition to condemn the persecution

On September 21, the first day of the Toronto practitioners' visit to New York, they came across former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on the street. When he was Canadian prime minister, Mr. Chretien had expressed his concern many times over the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong. In October 2001, when he attended the APEC Summit in Shanghai, Mr. Chretien expressed his concern to the Chinese leader over China's human rights situation, especially the suppression of Falun Gong. With the help of the Canadian Government, more than 15 Canadian Falun Gong practitioners and their family members were rescued and released from detention in China. Prior to this time, Canadian practitioners have clarified the truth to MPs of all levels in the Canadian government, and delivered many Falun Dafa truth clarification materials to them.

As recalled by two practitioners who ran into Mr. Chretien, during the UN summit, he and two MPs saw Falun Gong practitioners in yellow T-shirts once again on the street. He smiled in a friendly way to the practitioners and nodded and passed by. One of the practitioners pointed at them from the behind, and said, "I'm from Toronto." Mr. Chretien and the two MPs immediately turned their heads and walked back to the practitioners, happily shaking hands with them. When a practitioner told Mr. Chretien that they were Canadian Falun Gong practitioners, he showed the two practitioners a copy of folded Falun Gong truth clarification material in his pocket. A practitioner recognized that the material was the one Canadian practitioners made and delivered to these MPs previously. Practitioners were very pleased that Mr. Chretien still carefully kept the truth clarification material for such a long period of time.

Several Toronto practitioners walked along the street to hand out materials and clarify the facts while holding photo display boards with the words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," and photos of group practice and brutal persecution. When they passed a restaurant near the Chinese Consulate, the restaurant owner was standing right in front of the entrance. Practitioners just passed by him, and heard someone call out from behind, "Stop." They thought this owner did not see clearly the content of the display boards and wanted to stop them and look carefully. This restaurant owner had received Dafa materials and learned the facts. He hoped practitioners would walk around in his restaurant holding the display boards to allow every customer to take a look at them and learn the truth. The practitioners walked around along the 30 tables in the restaurant while holding truth clarification display boards. The restaurant was full of people wearing suits. They all turned around to see such an unusual sight in the restaurant.

The owner also requested a stack of truth clarification materials from practitioners, and followed behind the practitioners' display boards to pass out literature to people at each table, telling them, "This is Falun Dafa, very good." Or "This is the persecution happening in China, please take a good look at it!" After the stack of materials was gone, he asked for another stack to continue distributing. Finally before the practitioners left, the owner shook hands with them and wished them good luck.

When several practitioners held an anti-torture exhibit at the site of the World Trade Center, and handed out materials and explained the facts about Falun Gong, they saw a group of young girls who were tourists, and walked up to them to hand out truth clarification materials to them. These girls saw that practitioners' exercises demonstration was beautiful and also felt startled by such brutal persecution. One girl told practitioners that she was in charge of a human rights group at a university. She hoped practitioners would go to her school to bring such a beautiful exercise demonstration and the anti-torture exhibit, to allow students there to learn about all this. She said if practitioners wanted to come, she could reserve a place and arrange a time immediately. She also said that their human rights group has branches in several dozen universities in the USA, and practitioners could go there to hold such exhibits.

She expressed that she would like to help practitioners contact other schools and bring such beautiful exercises and truth clarification of the persecution to those universities. Finally, before this group of young ladies left, they left their contact information and hoped the practitioners would get in touch with them as soon as possible.

A woman from Peru worked at the building near where Falun Gong practitioners were holding an anti-torture exhibit. She was startled by the brutal persecution exposed through the anti-torture exhibit the first time she passed by. At the same time, she was deeply attracted to the peaceful and harmonious exercises and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," and expressed that she would like to learn the exercises on the spot. Later, she told practitioners that the night before she saw practitioners, she had a dream. She dreamed that a group of people were holding an activity at the place of our anti-torture exhibit. Some children wrote for people some words that were strange to her. She also heard beautiful and peaceful music in her dream. Today, as soon as she walked to the place of anti-torture exhibit, she heard the exercise music, and it was exactly what she heard in her dream. She saw "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" on the truth clarification flyers, the same words those children in her dream wrote. She immediately learned to do the five sets of the exercises, and happily requested more materials from practitioners, saying that she would mail them to her friends and family members in Peru. She also hoped that practitioners would introduce Falun Dafa in Peru. She said people in Peru are very much in need of such beautiful exercises and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."

When practitioners were holding display boards and handing out materials, they also met many New Yorkers, who after learning the truth, inquired earnestly about where to learn the exercises, and how to help stop the brutal persecution. A young man got the information about practice sites in New York, and thanked practitioners for bringing the truth and such beautiful exercises to New Yorkers. He hoped practitioners would tell other practitioners to be sure not to stop their truth clarification activities; they must keep it up to let all New Yorkers learn the truth. The practitioners told him that they will definitely keep it up, and also told him that it was not easy for Falun Gong practitioners to do this. In order to help more New Yorkers learn the truth, practitioners traveled from around the world using their own savings and vacations to join the activities. The young man nodded and shook practitioners' hands to express his thanks and said, "You are remarkable."

Looking at the back of the young man who left, practitioners said in their hearts, "Please rest assured, New Yorkers, Falun Gong practitioners will definitely keep it up, to spread the truth of Falun Dafa to every corner of Manhattan, and to let the truth of Falun Dafa enter the hearts of all New Yorkers."

Posting date: 10/2/2004
Original article date: 10/1/2004
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/9/29/85346.html

 Yearly Archive  Printer Version