(Clearwisdom.net) According to a report of RFA on July 22, the persecution against Falun Gong has last 6 years since it started on July 20, 1999. Starting from July 21, 2005, Washington DC started its annual event series to protest the persecution.

At the noontime of Thursday [July 21], several hundred practitioners rallied at the west lawn of Capitol Hill. Wearing "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" exercises shirts, the practitioners displayed many banners such as "Stop the Persecution Against Falun Gong" and "Stop the Jiang Regime's State-run terrorism". They also let passing-by tourists know about the persecution happening in China by showing posters and distributing fliers. The rally was co-sponsored by Freedom House, Friends of Falun Gong and the Falun Dafa Association, and the theme was "Stop the CCP's Terror and End the Persecution." A number of congressional representatives and human rights activists attended this rally to voice their support.

New Jersey Republican Congressman Chris Smith stated that July 20 this year marks the sixth year of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. Smith expressed his knowledge that Falun Gong practitioners outnumbered the CCP members. Similar to all dictators, the CCP fears to lose control over its people and thus decided to suppress and intimidate Falun Gong practitioners.

Congressman Smith said that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China were being tortured, brainwashed, imprisoned and sent to forced labor camps without trial. Moreover, CCP has also tried to intimidate and harass overseas Falun Gong practitioners.

New Jersey Democratic Congressman Rush Holt said that he believed that the United States should use its international influence and leadership to strongly condemn the CCP's persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. Religious freedom and freedom of belief are fundamental human rights, and this isn't any special request. He hoped that all Americans could see this rally and wished it success.

Representatives from Freedom House, International Coalition for Religious Freedom, Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, Hudson Institute and Religious Freedom Coalition as well as many others attended the rally.