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Toronto, Canada: Rally and Parade Calling for an End to the Persecution (Photos)
By Ye Linghui, Minghui/Clearwisdom Staff Writer
(Clearwisdom.net) On the afternoon of July 16 2006, hundreds of Falun
Gong practitioners and their supporters rallied at Queens Park, Toronto, calling
for more people to join the investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP)
organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners and help to end the
seven-year-long persecution. The CCP's crime has been widely reported in the
Canadian media. The contact person for the Coalition to Investigate the
Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) in Toronto, Yang Kaiwen said
that the July 6 report provided by Canada's former Secretary of
State for Asian-Pacific Mr. David Kilgour, and human rights lawyer
David Matas verified the existence of a large-scale organ
harvesting activity inside Communist China. Yang said, "We hope that all levels of Canadian government
will openly condemn the Chinese Communist Party and request it to
allow independent investigation organizations' members to enter
China and to run an uninterrupted investigation." Yang also said that much investigative work can be done
overseas, and encouraged anyone who wants to help to join the
investigation. A representative of the Liberal Party, Mr. Borys Wrzesnewskyj,
gave a speech. He said human beings include spirit and are not
merely a combination of organs. MP Wrzesnewskyj said, "I am
happy to see that the Canadian government responded to the report.
But I want to see a stronger response. The Canadian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs should call upon China's Ambassador to express our
concern." New Democratic Party Member of Parliament, Zou Zhihui wrote a
letter to the rally stating that the Canadian Government should
pay more attention to China's human rights issues. The president of the Canada Chinese Association, Clement
Rodrigo said that evil things are happening in China and the
Canadian government shall provide more help to end the
persecution. After the rally, over 500 Falun Gong practitioners and their
supporters began a parade, marching through Toronto's downtown and
Chinatown. Solemn procession The parade included the Toronto Divine Land Marching Band, a
group of practitioners commemorating fellow practitioners who died
in the persecution, a section exposing the crime of harvesting
organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, an anti-persecution
section and a Falun Gong exercise section. The participants had a
white flower on their chests and their expressions were solemn. Two passersby asked for the reason of the parade and then asked
to join the parade in the "anti-persecution" section.
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