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Fifth Anniversary of Counteracting Persecution -- San Francisco Holds "Peaceful Journey of Falun Dafa" Poster Exhibition and Anti-Torture Demonstration (Photos)

July 20, 2004

(Clearwisdom.net) Clearwisdom Net correspondent Wang Ying reports from San Francisco ¨C On July 17, Falun Gong practitioners from San Francisco held "Peaceful Journey of Falun Dafa" poster exhibition and anti-torture demonstration in the Garden Corner Park of San Francisco's Chinatown to expose the Jiang group's systematic persecution of Falun Gong over the past five years. Practitioners called upon all kind-hearted people to come together to stop this persecution and bring the chief perpetrator Jiang who initiated this persecution and his accomplices to justice.

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Poster exhibition

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Practitioner delivering speech

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Exercise demonstration

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Reenactment of torture method: force-feeding

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Reenactment of torture method: hanging up and beaten

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Reenactment of torture method: digging bamboo sticks into fingers through fingernails

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Spectators

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Clarifying the facts

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Spectators

The "Peaceful Journey of Falun Dafa" poster exhibition displayed that Falun Dafa has been warmly received in more than 60 countries around the world since Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced it to the public in 1992. Falun Gong has received more than 1,000 proclamations from different countries and organizations in the world in honor of the benefits Falun Gong bas brought the world including social stability and upgrading moral standards. Facts have shown that Falun Gong practitioners only want to be good people through their cultivation of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance and this has benefited individuals, the society, and the countries in many ways without a single threat.

In addition, live reenactment of several typical methods of torture was demonstrated, including digging bamboo sticks into practitioners' fingers through their fingernails, forced abortion, and burning and handcuffing used against Falun Gong practitioners. The vivid torture scenes shocked passersby who could not believe that in today's civilized society, there are still such inhuman tortures.

Around 10 a.m., as soon as the posters were set up, many people came over to have a look. Some said, "They only practice the exercises and were beaten so badly! It is too cruel!" An elderly lady said that each time she saw us, she was very happy. She actively helped us to set up the posters. She said that she was very happy to be able to assist us.

Coordinator Mr. Wu said that we conducted this activity today to allow people to learn more about Falun Gong and realize the brutality of the persecution. He said that Falun Gong practitioners cultivate themselves in accordance with Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. While such a group of good people are suffering this kind of terrible persecution, all kind-hearted people should stand up and oppose it. Conducting the anti-torture exhibition was to awaken more people's conscience so that people will work together to counteract it. The persecution should be stopped.

Ms. Li, 70 years old, said that in 1998 when she passed by a Falun Gong practice site in China, practitioners introduced Falun Gong and its benefit to her. She immediately learned the exercises on the spot. She said that she had been unable to read books for a number of years previously, because she felt dizzy when reading. After she practiced Falun Gong for only a few days, she was able to read books without feeling dizzy. She said that she was not in a good health condition. She had suffered from several illnesses including arteriosclerosis, cervical vertebra proliferation, pancreatitis, and neurasthenia. She had been hospitalized but did not have her illnesses cured. After she started practicing Falun Gong, all of her illnesses disappeared and she did not need to take medicine since then, which saved her several hundred Yuan (Chinese currency) per month.

She said that she became healthy and she would like to introduce such a wonderful practice to more people. Unfortunately, on July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin started the persecution of Falun Gong out of his jealousy. She said that the purpose of her coming here today was to expose Jiang group's persecution of good people and to reveal the facts that more than 1,000 practitioners have died from the persecution.

Ms. Ren, a Falun Gong practitioner from the bay area said, "The reason for us to come here today is because of the Jiang groups' persecution of Falun Gong. We come here to let more people be aware of it. Over the past five years, in the process of opposing this persecution, we realized that the evildoers are afraid of being exposed."

Ms. Ren said that the exposal of their crimes to the public and to the media could help to stop their evildoings, because this was supporting justice and it could reduce the pressure faced by practitioners in China. "Therefore, we come here to raise awareness. Then the dark corner for them to survive will become smaller and smaller."

She said that for those who were deceived by the Jiang group's lies and thus misunderstood Falun Gong, we tried to clarify the truth to them and clear away the bad impression. Many people changed their attitude after they learned about the truth.

A passer by who came to visit the exhibition said that the he was aware of Falun Gong. He said that Falun Gong was not like what the Chinese government described. He said that Falun Gong was really good. He expressed that in China's prisons, criminal inmates who were authorized by jail guards beat Falun Gong practitioners. He also said that he has a friend working in a police station in china. If one arrested a Falun Gong practitioner, he would be awarded with 2,000 Yuan (Chinese currency, the average of China's urban work monthly salary is 500 Yuan).

After viewing the posters and listening to practitioners' introduction of the persecution, a Christian said that humans will never defeat God.

Mr. Bian who personally experienced the persecution said, "Today I attend this anti-torture exhibition, because this kind of torture is happening this very moment in China. The persecution has been going on for five years. It is completely genocide conducted by Jiang's group. Up to present, at least 1,000 practitioners of Falun Gong have died from the persecution. The real death toll could be much more than that. We should allow people to understand the nature and brutality of this suppression."

He said, "In particular, the attempted assassination of Falun Gong practitioners by hired thugs aiming that recently took place in South Africa indicates that Jiang group's state-run terrorism has already been exported overseas and has become furious. We call upon all people with a sense of justice, governments of all countries in the world and international organizations to condemn this kind of act of terrorism and to stop this persecution."

Falun Gong practitioner from the bay area, Ms. Shen, pointed out that Jiang group's persecution of Falun Gong has lasted for five years. Over the past five years, Falun Gong practitioners have used various peaceful and rational ways to tell people about Jiang's suppression of Falun Gong and his slanderous lies to deceive people. She said that we cannot allow it to continue. We call upon all kind-hearted people to come together to stop this persecution and bring the chief perpetrator Jiang and his accomplices to justice.