(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Houston held a rally at Bellaire Boulevard, which runs through Chinatown, on April 13, 2024 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the April 25, 1999 peaceful protest.
Twenty five years ago, on April 25, 1999, approximately ten thousand Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) practitioners gathered outside the State Appeals Office in Beijing to ask for the unconditional release of 45 practitioners who were illegally arrested by Tianjin police, and to allow Falun Dafa books to be published and for people in China to be allowed to practice Falun Dafa undisturbed.
This was the start of the practitioners’ years of peaceful, rational protests against the persecution and was praised by the international community as the largest scale and peaceful appeal in China. However, on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to brutally suppress Falun Dafa and its practitioners, and the persecution continues today.
Practitioners displayed many banners along the road during the event in Houston. The banners displayed messages like “Commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the April 25 Peaceful Appeal,” “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” “Falun Dafa Is Good,” “Stop the CCP from Persecuting Falun Gong,” “Stop the CCP from Organ Harvesting” and so on. Practitioners have continued to hold peaceful protests similar to the one held in Beijing 25 years ago, and many Houston residents praised their efforts.
President of Falun Dafa Association Urges Chinese to Quit the CCP
Mr. Yang, president of the Southern U.S. branch of the Falun Dafa Association, said in his speech at the rally, “On April 25, 1999, Falun Gong practitioners went to the State Appeals Office in Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. This was an important event. Since then, for 25 years, moral values in China have been totally eroded, there are no officials who are not corrupt, people give up the last moral bottom line in pursuit of fortune and the unprecedented crime of forced organ harvesting is taking place.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, he said, “Since the Nine Commentaries were published, to date, over 420 million Chinese citizens have quit the CCP and its affiliated organisations. Practitioners call on those who have not done so, to seize the opportunity to see the true colors of the CCP and renounce your membership.”
Falun Gong Practitioners Have Shown Great Kindness and Forbearance
Liu Xiaobin began to practice in 1998. He was a police officer at the Shahekou Police Department in Dalian City, Liaoning Province. He used his personal experience to recount how the regime systematically persecutes Falun Gong.
He said, “The regime regards April 25 every year as a sensitive day. It mobilises a lot of manpower and resources to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. In fact, practitioners are ordinary citizens from all walks of life. They have no enemies and showed great kindness as well as forbearance. They are not afraid of hardship or persecution and have persisted in telling people the facts about Falun Gong for more than two decades.”
“Thank You for Promoting Kindness and Suppressing Evil”
Many passersby showed their support by waving or honking. Some took photos of the event. The Quit the CCP Center volunteers distributed information and told people about Falun Gong and the persecution.
A woman from Guangdong Province who moved to the U.S. many years ago said that she learned the truth about the persecution back in China. She told practitioners, “I don’t believe what the CCP says, I support Falun Gong.” She took photos of the rally, accepted informational materials and said she would give it to her family members.
A man named Ali passed by. When he discovered that practitioners were holding activities, he told them that he lives nearby and often saw practitioners doing the exercises, “Your exercise site makes me feel calm.” People often face a lot of stress at work and in everyday life, Ali thinks practicing Falun Dafa improves people’s well being and said he will find out information about the persecution.
Mr. Lai from Taiwan took information about Falun Dafa and chatted with practitioners for a long time. He said, “I saw many activities in Taiwan held by practitioners, Falun Dafa is well known there.” He was moved when he learned that practitioners volunteer their time and pay for the materials to tell people the facts about the persecution, “The world needs to promote kindness and suppress evil. Thank you for doing that!”
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