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Indiana Dafa Practitioners Clarify the Truth During the Indy 2002 Basketball World Championship (Photos)

Sept. 11, 2002 |   By Practitioners from Indiana

(Clearwisdom.net) - In the early fall, Indianapolis, capital of the State of Indiana, welcomed flocks of friends from afar. The Indy 2002 Basketball World Championship was held here from August 29 to September 8. Sixteen teams from different parts of the world including Team China showed their talents and competed for the championship. It is the first time in six years that Team China attended the important international competition. Not only did China send many reporters to report the event but many overseas Chinese fans also flocked to the game to cheer for team China.

Dafa practitioners from Indiana and surrounding states also came to Indianapolis and took the opportunity to cheer for team China,show Dafa practitioners'spirit, and clarify the truth to overseas Chinese, players, reporters and TV viewers in China.

Practicing in park before the game. Background is the Hyatt Hotel where the reporters stayed.Practitioners show banners outside the entrance of the game venue and demonstrate Dafa exercises. The banner reads, "Greetings! Team China"
Practitioners show banners outside the entrance of the game venue and demonstrate Dafa exercises. The banner reads, "Greetings! Team China" Practitioners cheer for Team China in a game.Practitioners cheer for Team China in a game.

Facing crowds outside the famous RGA Dome where the games were held, practitioners unfurled several eye-catching banners, "Greetings, Fellow Chinese", "Falun Dafa is Good" "Falun Dafa" etc. Some practitioners peacefully demonstrated five sets of Dafa exercises while other practitioners distributed Dafa flyers and fans imprinted with "Falun Dafa is Good" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." The fans were beautifully made. People loved them so much that inside and outside the venue, everywhere you looked you would see people with fans in their hands.

Other practitioners entered the Dome to cheer for Team China and take the opportunity to clarify the truth to the Chinese people around them. Through short discussions practitioners were able to eliminate the misunderstandings of some Chinese people regarding the Chinese government's propaganda. Most of the Chinese people willingly accepted the truth-clarifying materials. From time to time, some practitioners held banners or placards to cheer for Team China.

However, the rights of Dafa practitioners to cheer for Team China were interfered with by the evil force. During the first game of China vs. Germany, police told practitioners who held banners that the organizing committee asked them to prevent the people in yellow shirts in some areas from raising banners, apparently referring to the practitioners. Practitioners at once spoke to the staff member. The staff member said the content of the banners did not have any problems. Practitioners abided by the law and their conduct met the requirements of the venue. Then who could they "offend"? Maybe those Chinese consulate staff members who do their deeds for Jiang Zemin and persecute Falun Gong overseas? Practitioners decided they had done nothing wrong so several practitioners went to negotiate with the organizing committee while other practitioners continued to cheer for Team China and hold banners until the game was over.

Through studying Fa and discussing the matter amongst themselves, practitioners realized that we needed to actively expose this matter to media and to investigate who pressured the organizing committee. On the second day, practitioners made an appointment with a reporter from the biggest local newspaper and disclosed to him what happened the day before. The reporter said he was going to investigate the matter and report to the mayor's office.

In the next game, China vs. Algeria, two practitioners who were watching the game were unreasonably interfered with by a CCTV reporter. The reporter even asked practitioners to leave their seats and claimed they were interfering with CCTV's broadcast of the game. Practitioners declined his unreasonable request. The CCTV reporter then asked them to wear their Dafa T-shirts inside out. After being refused, the reporter called several police to stand in front of practitioners to block their views. However after a few minutes the police left after having seen practitioners' relaxed attitudes.

During the entire game, practitioners took all available opportunities and used reason, wisdom and compassion to exhibit Dafa practitioners' spirit and to communicate the truth about Falun Dafa's wide spread around the world to overseas Chinese, reporters and players from China. The practitioners believe that no matter how hard Jiang's regime tries to block the information and spread lies, the reporters and players will take what they saw here back to the precious Chinese people in China.