By Minghui Correspondent Yun Yun
To commemorate the “April 25 Appeal” in Beijing in
1999, practitioners in Sydney, Australia held a rally and candlelight vigil
on the square in front of the City Hall on the evening of April 24, 2008. They
mourned the thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who have lost their lives
because of the persecution, recounted the nine years of peaceful resistance,
and condemned the CCP for its ongoing brutal persecution of Falun Gong.
Rally and candlelight vigil to commemorate April 25 Appeal |
Lucy Zhao, Spokesperson of Falun Dafa Association in Sydney, told the media
about the background of their activity. She said the CCP is escalating its persecution
under the excuse of the Olympic Games. In the past few months, more than one
thousand practitioners were arrested. Some died from the persecution. They hope
more Australian people, media and the government to pay attention to the persecution
and help bring it to the end.
Dr. Li Yuanhua |
Dr. Li Yuanhua, a former faculty member in Beijing Normal University who participated
in the appeal in 1999, recalled April 25 Appeal as a great event in Chinese
history. CCP propaganda twisted the facts and turned the peaceful appeal into
a “seige of the Zhongnanhai Central Government Compound,” and many people to
this day don't know the true situation.
Ms. Zhang Cuiying, a Falun Gong practitioner in Sydney, said the nine-year-long
persecution is escalating under the excuse of the Olympic Games. She called
for the Australian government and governments around the world to resist the
persecution.
Liang Fengyuan, a freshman in University of Sydney |
Liang Fengyuan, a freshman in University of Sydney, said many Chinese students
still don't know the true story of the appeal. They only believed the propaganda
drilled into them over and over by the state-run Chinese media. Liang hoped
they would learn the true story soon.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. He Qinglian said the police force of almost of
whole city of Guangzhou was mobilized when they went to Zhuangzhou to appeal.
She was imprisoned for a month and was still followed and monitored after being
released, even when she went to shop for groceries.
For more about what happened that day, read here: http://clearwisdom.nethttp://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/4/25/96734.html
Posting date: 26/Apr/2008
Original article date: 26/Apr/2008
Category: Australian News