(Clearwisdom.net) The annual "Martin Luther King Day Parade"
was held on January 15 in downtown San Diego, California. To commemorate this
renowned civil rights leader, a national holiday has been established in his
honor each year on the third Monday of January. This year, a number of
"Martin Luther King Day" events were held on January 15. There were
commemorative activities all around the nation. In order to use this opportunity
to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa and save sentient beings, San Diego
practitioners joined the parade with an "Anti-Torture Exhibition."
The Falun Gong procession was composed of two banners, a decorated float, a
flat-bed truck with an anti-torture exhibition and a large section of
practitioners holding truth-clarification posters. Practitioners carrying a
banner with the words, "Falun Dafa" led the group, followed by a float
with practitioners demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises. Their movements were
smooth and graceful and won a lot of praise from the spectators.
Behind the float, four practitioners carried a banner printed with,
"Please help stop the persecution in China." On the truck behind them
were three sets of torture re-enactments: Being locked in a small cage, the
"Tiger Bench," and brutal force-feeding. Behind the torture
reenactments came the truth-clarification section. Informational posters told
the history of Falun Dafa and its wide spread throughout the world, how
practitioners have benefited from Dafa physically and morally, and the Chinese
Communist Party's persecution of "Truthfulness, Compassion,
Forbearance" in 1999, including details about numerous practitioners being
jailed, tortured and murdered.
 
Displaying truth-clarification posters to spectators before the parade |
The Falun Gong procession |
A spectator takes a photo of a torture re-enactment |
The exercise demonstration, torture reenactments and informational posters
told the story of Falun Dafa from a number of different aspects, and drew a
sharp contrast between the compassion of Dafa and the evilness of the
persecution. The spectators were deeply moved. Wherever the Falun Dafa
procession went by, the spectators first praised the elegance of Falun Dafa. But
when they saw the anti-torture exhibition, they turned silent and occasionally
one could hear, "Oh my goodness," or "It is so cruel." Most
of the spectators were shocked and could not say a word.
Clarifying the truth of the persecution to spectators along
the street
Lives were touched and the air seemed frozen. The practitioners displayed the
beauty of Falun Dafa, the inhuman persecution in China and the practitioners'
persistent and peaceful efforts to clarify the truth and bring an end to the
persecution.
People learn the truth of the persecution |
People learn the truth of the persecution |
People learn the truth of the persecution after the parade |
The spectators asked for truth clarification materials. Many of them asked
why the Chinese Communist Party wants to persecute a group of good people and
they wanted to know how they could help the Falun Gong practitioners. One
Spanish-language media reporter followed the procession the entire parade route
and took a lot of photos. He asked a lot of questions and in the end he said he
wanted to learn the exercises. One spectator said, "You did the right
thing! You ought to expose the evil." Another spectator offered to contact
human rights organizations for us.
The practitioners participating in this event said that this was the first
live anti-torture reenactment exhibition in San Diego, and they felt that the
truth-clarification effect was very strong.
