UK: Parade and Rally Protesting the Persecution is Held in London before the Seventh Anniversary of the "April 25th Peaceful Appeal" (Photos)

By a U.K. Dafa Practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) On April 22, 2006, Saturday, U.K. Falun Gong practitioners held a parade and a press conference in London to mark the seventh anniversary of the "April 25^th Peaceful Appeal," in which over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners peacefully protested outside Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Government leadership's compound in Beijing. U.K. Falun Gong practitioners expressed their protest against the seven-year-old genocide and persecution against Falun Gong in China, and called on the international community to launch a thorough investigation into the crimes of harvesting and selling living Falun Gong practitioners' organs in China's forced labor camps. In the meantime, they expressed their support for nearly ten million courageous Chinese people's magnificent deeds of withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Parade procession marching through Chinatown in London

Through London's busiest shopping area, Oxford Street, and Chinatown, the parade procession set off from the Chinese Embassy in London to the St. Martin Square, which is not far from the Trafalgar Square. In addition to a press conference, practitioners also held some activities there to expose the facts about China's atrocities and called on the public to support Falun Gong.

People along the way could see many Chinese people in the procession. Donning plain-color clothing, some of women practitioners and children held the photos of the Falun Gong practitioners who were persecuted to death by the Chinese Communist regime, along with banners reading "Falun Gong practitioners are killed with cruel torture," "Immediate stop the seven-year persecution against Falun Gong," "Stop China harvesting living organs in forced labor camps." In the meantime, the golden banner reading "Falun Dafa is good" and other banners such as "The world needs 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance'" and "Falun Dafa has benefited over one hundred million people physically and spiritually" disseminated the magnificence of compassion, peacefulness and tolerance.

The practitioners used loudspeakers to appeal to the public for support along the way. They exposed the CCP's atrocities and supported the Chinese people quitting the CCP. Many people in the busy shopping area slowed down their footsteps to listen to the practitioners' explanations, view the words on the banners or take flyers and read them attentively. A gentleman even chanted slogans along with the practitioners. When asked, he said that it was simply because that he felt the content of the slogans was very good. He added that he personally had been persecuted in South Africa as well, and that this is a free country, so that Falun Gong practitioners are able to have their voice heard and practice the Falun Gong exercises freely.

At the press conference, Mr. John Dee, president of the European Falun Gong's Friends Association, condemned the CCP's atrocities against Falun Gong in the past seven years. He said, "In addition to illegal incarceration, re-education in forced labor camps, extending violence to other countries and fabricating lies to slander Falun Gong, recently some witnesses have further exposed the atrocities that nearly forty concentration camps were established in China to illegally harvest organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. The Chinese people are extensively fed up with the CCP, and nearly ten million of them have declared their withdrawals from the CCP, which account for about one eighth of membership of the CCP." He hoped that other governments around the world are able to condemn the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners holistically, and that protection of basic human rights shall not be ignored simply because of economic interests.

In the press conference, Dr. Liu Wei, chief editor of the U.K. Epoch Times, said, "The day before yesterday, Annie and Peter, the two witnesses exposing the inside story about the Sunjiatum concentration camp, showed up, and testified to the atrocities of harvesting and selling living Falun Gong practitioners' organs in China's forced labor camps. They stated that they chose the date when Hu Jintao met with Bush to show up was because they wanted to take advantage of the moment when the international community's attention was focused on China to further expose China's atrocities. They risked their lives to testify for the case, without caring the risk of being killed by the Chinese Communist regime, because (he wanted to stop) atrocities of a large-scale harvesting and selling of living Falun Gong practitioners' organs in China's forced labor camps.

"Everyone of us is faced with a critical choice of how to deal with the Chinese Communist regime. But it is in fact a matter of common sense. In other words, it is a matter of choosing good or bad, right or evil, and truth or lie. Dr. added, "The objective of our rallying here today is to tell the society the Chinese Communist regime, as pointed out in the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, is not only a undemocratic regime, but also a reactionary evil regime which is against humanity, against civilization and culture, against morality and against the principles of the universe. If the world people do not realize the CCP's intrinsic evil nature, human beings' value system, dignity, social civilization and culture will be destroyed and challenged."

After the press conference, the practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises in the square, and solicited supporting signatures. In the meantime, some practitioner acted out the cruel torture methods employed in China's forced labor camps against Falun Gong practitioners. They also performed an imitation show of harvesting living human organs in China's forced labor camps. When seeing the peacefulness of the Falun Gong exercises against the cruelty of the persecution, many people were deeply moved. In the meantime, they were really shocked by the CCP's evil and inhuman nature.

Many people signed the petition one after another to call for a thorough investigation into all the concentration camps and immediate ending of the atrocities. After learning the severity of the persecution, a mid-aged lady could not help crying out. Two ladies from Indonesia asked a practitioner for paper to take note of the atrocities of harvesting human organs in China's forced labor camps, saying that they would pass this information back to Indonesia as there would be many people planning to have organ transplants in China. They also condemned the CCP's inhuman acts.

In the evening, the practitioners staged a candlelight vigil opposite the Chinese Embassy for the 2,871 Falun Gong practitioners confirmed to have died as a result of the persecution in China by the CCP. They also expressed their condolences for these deceased practitioners, while showing their protest against the CCP's atrocities.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/4/24/125913.html

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