(Clearwisdom.net) (By Clearwisdom Reporter Li Hua) Falun Gong practitioners in Vancouver held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate to mark their one-thousand-day appeal on May 15, 2004. Falun Gong practitioners restated that their appeal was to call for an end of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and to demonstrate their indomitable will of guarding their freedom of belief. Many local Chinese and English media attended the press conference.
 
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Bronwen hosts the press conference |
  Chinese national flag and surveillance camera (in the mid-right part of the picture, above letter F) |
  A Falun Gong practitioner performs exercises |
  English banner of the one-thousand-day appeal |
Started on August 20, 2001, the one-thousand-day peaceful appeal has not only marked a record, but also demonstrated Falun Gong practitioners' courage to adhere to truth despite persecution.
Since Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in China twelve years ago, more than one hundred million people have practiced Falun Gong because of its principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and health improving exercises.
However, Jiang's group framed Falun Gong and banned the exercise in July 1999. The persecution has been escalating since then. Countless Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, sent to forced labor camps, thrown into prisons and mental hospitals throughout the nation. The number of practitioners who have died from the persecution has been continually increasing.
Facing overwhelming lies in the Chinese propaganda and brutal persecution, Falun Gong practitioners didn't give up or react violently. Instead, they started a rational and peaceful resistance movement by clarifying the facts about Falun Gong. The continuous appeal by Vancouver practitioners, rain or shine, day or night, is part of the global truth clarification efforts by Falun Gong practitioners around the world.
Their rationality, peacefulness and persistence have made more and more people learn about Falun Gong and the inhumane persecution. Policemen, local residents, passersby, practitioners' families, friends, colleague and all those who used to misunderstand Falun Gong have changed their attitude and become supportive. It is Falun Dafa who has refined practitioners and moved people.
Countless moving episodes have happened in the past one thousand days. Flowers, fruits, pastries, and bottled water brought to practitioners and even a word of concern have given practitioners a lot of gratification because they meant the wake of people and a bright future for them.
Falun Gong practitioners took the opportunity of the press conference to express their gratitude to local residents, government officials and police because they had chosen to support their rights under continuous harassment from the Chinese consulate.
Falun Gong practitioners said they would continue with their appeal until the persecution ends.
Falun Gong practitioner Lu Qi's speech at press conference
Let's Witness the History -- One Thousand Day Journey Appeal in Front the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver
It is the one thousandth day since we Falun Gong practitioners in Vancouver started our around-the-clock peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese consulate. In the past two and a half years, I spent a night every week in front of the consulate, rain or shine. It has added up to one hundred and forty nights. The following is my experience as part of the appeal.
I am a new immigrant with family and a job. When I first joined the appeal, I had only three nights of sleep every week. I moved to another town this year. To join the appeal in Vancouver, I have to spend over an hour and change buses three times to get here and catch the early bus the next morning to get back to work.
Some people say that we are paid to appeal. I want to tell them that money cannot buy our hearts. We do it out of our conscience. It was our righteous belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance that has given us a strong will and carried us through all hardship.
Some people say that we have political pursuit. I want to tell them that for those who cultivate themselves, political pursuit is meaningless. All we ask for is the stop of the brutal persecution. It is the basic right of lives and basic right of belief. No threat or disturbance can make us give up our righteous belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.
I come here to appeal because I have personally experienced the persecution in China. I have been arrested three times just for practicing the health-improving exercises, for saying "Falun Dafa is great" and for refusing to give up my cultivation. I have been thrown into detention centers, confined with criminals and been humiliated. My families, friends, colleagues, bosses, director of community affairs office and even local policemen have suffered from the persecution by association with me.
I am here to tell my personal experience and what is happening in China so that people will know the persecution of Falun Gong is a violation of basic human rights and a challenge to human civilization.
I come here to appeal because my friends in China are still being persecuted. Among the 958 practitioners who died from the persecution, two of them are my friends. Forty-one-year-old Professor Gao Xianmin died from force-feeding with a highly concentrated sodium solution in a detention center. Sixty-five-year-old retired official Ms. Yang Xueqin was tortured to death in a brainwashing class. Both of them used to be very healthy and happy people. They paid their lives for refusing to give up their right to practice Falun Gong.
Many other friends of mine are still subject to physical and mental tortures in forced labor camps and brainwashing classes. I am here to tell people their bitter experiences and to call for support to rescue them. Kind people, let's work together to end this persecution!
We are here to appeal not only for Falun Gong practitioners, but also for more people, including those carrying out the persecution policy. It has been extended to many democratic countries in the world. Dictator Jiang Zemin has utilized national propaganda to fabricate stories, to frame Falun Gong and to spread hatred. He has also utilized his power and economic interest to coerce assistance with his persecution.
I am here to talk about this unusual injustice, to call for truth, justice and conscience.
In the past two and a half years, many people have given us valuable support and encouragement. They delivered followers, food and water to us. They helped us call for support, helped us with rescue and many more.
I would like to express our gratitude to the Canadian governments and people for all they have done!
We come together from all walks of life because of this persecution of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Falun Gong practitioners in Vancouver will continue our peaceful appeal until the last day of the persecution!
We will continue to call for an end to the persecution of conscience, peacefully and rationally, because we hold no hatred in our hearts, and because we deeply believe that lies, fabrications and violence won't last long. Justice will win. Let's become witnesses of this historical moment!
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