Falun Gong practitioners from Australia, Vietnam, and New Zealand held a grand march in downtown Sydney on September 7, 2018. The march started from the famous Hyde Park and proceeded down the busy street lined with high-rise buildings on both sides, ending in front of the customs building.
The march consisted of three major processions:
- Falun Dafa is good,
- Stopping the persecution of Falun Gong,
- Supporting the 300 million Chinese quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organisations.
The colorful processions drew the attention of many tourists.
Falun Gong practitioners held banners with words in both Chinese and English, colorful flags, and posters to introduce Falun Gong and raise awareness of the CCP’s persecution in the past 19 years.
Event organiser Mr. Li said, “Protesting the CCP’s persecution started after the CCP began its brutal persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. There is also a message in the parade to be passed on about the two new books published by The Epoch Times: one is The Ultimate Goal of Communism and the other is The Devil Is Dominating Our World. We display banners with the titles of these two books to inform mainstream Australian society.”
Ms. Kim Tunbridge emerged from the train station at the Circular Quay in downtown Sydney as usual and rushed to her company for work. She suddenly saw a bright golden banner and paused to look. The banner said “Falun Gong is based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” She took photos of the practitioners and banners.
When the reporter asked her how she felt, she quickly shared her thoughts, “I told my colleagues on the train I was on, ‘We should let those with positive opinions change the world.’ I then saw this banner after stepping out of the train station.”
Tunbridge said that she was usually very busy and rarely slowed down. Today she saw such a beautiful scene, reminding her to stop and examine herself.
“I feel the goodness of the Falun Gong practitioners. I think that people should be friendly and tolerant of each other. Now many people only consider themselves. What I get today is to be kind to others,” said Tunbridge.
A practitioner then handed her a Falun Gong introductory pamphlet and a hand-made lotus pendant. She said happily, “Tomorrow is my daughter’s third birthday. I will give this her beautiful lotus as a birthday gift.”
Doctor Michael Gathas stopped and watched the march very carefully. As a doctor, he believes that the CCP’s state-sanctioned live organ harvesting is occurring in China. He said that human organ transplants needed to have a consent form signed and that it was absolutely impossible to do such things without the consent of the donor.
He said, “People have the right to control their own body and say ‘No, this is my body, I don’t accept it.’ to those infringing on them. But the Chinese have no human rights. This is very wrong.”
He continued, “Although it is difficult for the Australian government to interfere with China’s affairs, it can set a model for China and tell them that such a thing is impossible to accept in Australia. If it is clear that organ harvesting in China is illegal, the Australian government should set the law to prevent Australians from going to China for organ transplants.”
Daniel and his friends, tourists from Switzerland, saw the large march and paused to watch. They all thought the march was very peaceful and great.
Danny said, “There are so many people. Everyone is smiling. The music is great.” Some banners revealed the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong and the inhumane organ harvesting. They said that they did not know about it and would continue to pay attention.
