New York: 5000-Person Parade Held on Broadway to Clarify the Truth (Photos)
By Minghui/Clearwisdom reporters Caiju and Huang Kaili
(Clearwisdom.net) On April 8, 2007, 5000 Falun Gong
practitioners and people from Manhattan, New York, held a parade on
Broadway to clarify the truth about the persecution of
Falun Gong. The parade had three sections, which had the themes, "The
Beauty of Falun Dafa," "Exposing the Persecution"
and "Supporting Withdrawals From the CCP."
There were many people on Broadway, and they were attracted to the
grand parade. Many people took photos and some Chinese people also
came to watch the parade. People were shocked by the truth exposed by
the parade. The float The Divine Land Marching Band Many people take photos of the parade Many people take photos of the parade In memory of the fellow practitioners who were persecuted to death
in China "Stop the persecution" "Stop the persecution" The CCP is about to fall Heaven will eliminate the CCP soon Heaven will eliminate the CCP soon The parade started from 39th Street and ended at Union
Square on 14th Street, and lasted for two hours. After the
parade, a rally to support 20 million withdrawals from the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) was held at Union Square. The First Section: The Beauty of Falun Dafa The first section was led by a beautiful float, on which Western
practitioners demonstrated the exercises, and young practitioners
demonstrated the sitting meditation. Heavenly ladies spread flowers
from the float. After the float, was the Divine Land Marching Band, consisting of
300 members. They performed songs including, "Falun Dafa is
good," "Fa Drum and Fa Trumpet," and "The Fa
Rectifies Heaven and Earth." The group of heavenly ladies danced after the band. Two hundred
practitioners demonstrated the exercises after two banners which
read: "Falun Gong Teaches Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance"
and "Falun Gong has Five Sets of Exercises." More than 1000 practitioners from different countries marched
after a big banner, which read "Falun Gong Spreads in 75
Countries in the World." They held boards indicating where they
were from. The waist drum group was the last group in the first section. The Second Section: Exposing the Evil Persecution More than 3000 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to
death since July 20, 1999. Recently, it was revealed that the CCP
even harvests organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
After the first section, more than 1000 practitioners held all
kinds of banners and boards exposing the brutal persecution. Female
practitioners in white held photos of those who were persecuted to
death, in memory of them. The Third Section: Supporting 20 Million Withdrawals from the
CCP In November 2004, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist
Party was
published by The Epoch Times, which comprehensively exposed
and analyzed the evil nature of the CCP. Since then, many people have
quit the party. The number of the withdrawals has now reached 20
million. Falun Gong practitioners and some democrat movement activists
marched in this section. The banners they held read "The Root
of the CCP has been Pulled Out," "Supporting 20 Million
Withdrawals from the CCP," "The CCP is Crashing Down,"
"Heaven Will Eliminate the CCP Soon," and "Quit the
Party for Your Own Safety." The lion and dragon dance followed this section, celebrating the
withdrawals from the CCP and freedom. People's Reaction Many people were on Broadway and they were attracted to the
parade. Many took photos of the parade. Some Chinese people came to
watch the parade too. Two young men from China learned about the parade and came to
watch it. One of them told the reporter that his family members
practice Falun Gong and he wants to learn too. They quit the party at
the rally using their real names. Mr. Lin is from New York. He took a lot of photos of the parade.
When he first came to America in 2001, he saw the Falun Gong
practitioners' parade in front of the UN building, and he was
very touched. Mr. Lin said, "Although I am poor, I spent more
than 1000 dollars on a good camera. In the last six years, I took a
lot of photos of each parade and rally held by Falun Gong
practitioners. I witnessed the growth of Falun Gong and the change in
people's hearts." Mr. Lin said, "It is very hard for this group to spread the
truth in such a society. They demonstrate their spirit. I admire
Falun Gong practitioners. From them, I see the dignity of human
beings and the principles of being a human. They are the essence of
this society." Mr. Lin condemned the persecution. He said, "Falun Gong
practitioners do the exercises for good health. But the CCP
persecutes it, just because the leaders of the CCP have stupid
thoughts. The CCP's brutality scares every Chinese. But in
America I realized that the CCP's power is actually very weak." Mr. Lin said, "I want to bring those precious materials back
to China, sharing with every Chinese fellow. I know that my power is
limited, but if everybody does so, the new China will come soon." Mr. Zhang is also from New York. He told the reporter that he came
to Manhattan to watch this parade. He knew about the persecution of
Falun Gong from media reports. He said that stopping the persecution
is not political, but an issue of conscience and morality. Many
people know that the CCP is bad, but they do bad deeds for their own
benefit. People should have a conscience, like Mr. Gao Zhisheng. More
lawyers should stand up and speak for Falun Gong. Another Mr. Zhang, from Brooklyn, came to Manhattan to watch the
parade. He said "The parade has a very big influence. The
number of 20 million shocked me. The demise of the CCP is just a
matter of time." A retired teacher, who came to New York from China 20 years ago,
said that he has never been a member of the CCP, but he has friends
who are members and have even worked with Jiang Zemin. None of his
friends like Jiang Zemin. He thinks that Falun Gong is good, and the
persecution is wrong. He said that the persecution should be stopped.
He has read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and
agrees with it. He said that when he came to America in 1986, he
found that he had been brainwashed by the CCP. He wants to learn
about Falun Gong. Mr. Li is from Fuzhou. He knows that the CCP is bad. He said that
he has watched every parade Falun Gong parade. He is mad that many
people from Fuzhou have political asylum, but still work for the CCP. Ms. Kristy Evins is from England. She had never heard about Falun
Gong before, but she liked the parade and took a lot of photos. Marco Dessart is from Holland. He likes Chinese marshal arts. He
had never heard about the persecution. He said that it is wrong and
unfair to persecute such a good group. Naurico Oliver is from Argentina. He wanted to learn more about
Falun Gong. He said that the CCP is a tyrant because it persecutes
Falun Gong. A lady from Canada said, "I think the parade is very good.
It demonstrates the beauty of Falun Gong and will bring peace to the
world." Yuda from Japan said that he understands why the Chinese people
quit the CCP, because the CCP has been deceiving people. He said that
there is unhappiness between China and Japan. One of the reasons is
that the CCP lies.
A mother and a daughter from Russia agreed with the banner, which
read "No Communist Party." Mark from Holland likes the Chinese culture. He doesn't
understand the persecution. He was shocked when he learned about the
organ harvesting. A gentleman from Israel said that he saw practitioners doing
exercises in Israel, and he knew about Falun Gong. He said that he
never saw so many practitioners getting together. He hopes that the
CCP would stop the persecution right now, especially the organ
harvesting. Peter Reilly is a teacher from London. He took photos of the
banners which exposed the organ harvesting. He said that he would
show the photos to his students. He read the reports of organ
harvesting from the media in England. He knows that the CCP lies
about it. He asked for many truth-clarifying materials and said that
he would take them to his students. Moralues has been a policeman in New York for 21 years. He said
that he has seen many Falun Gong parade over the years. He read about
the persecution in newspapers. He doesn't understand it,
because he sees that Falun Gong is very peaceful. Mathew is from France. He and his family were amazed by the
parade. He's never seen Falun Gong before. He saw that there
were some French practitioners in the parade, and wanted to learn the
truth from them. Mr. and Ms. Cirdiner are from London. They often saw practitioners
protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy in London. They praised
practitioners for their spirit. Steve is from Canada. He said that he knows very well about the
persecution, and he knows that the Canadian government is very
supportive of Falun Gong practitioners. He feels that the Canadian
government should not do business with the CCP. A family from New York was excited by the parade. The mother said
that she saw the anti-torture exhibition in Manhattan two years ago,
and from it learned about the persecution. She said that Falun Gong
is good, and thanked practitioners for letting her know the truth. After the parade, a rally to support 20 million withdrawals from
the CCP was held at Union Square.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/4/9/152459.html
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