(Clearwisdom.net) On July 24, 2010, about 300 Falun Gong practitioners from Melbourne and surrounding areas held a march and rally in downtown Melbourne calling for an end to the persecution. The attendees also sought to raise awareness in the community to help stop the persecution. Mr. Peter Westmore, president of Australia's National Civic Council, participated in the rally. He held a banner reading "Quit the Chinese Communist Party."

March to help stop the persecution

Commemorating fellow practitioners who died as a result of persecution

Condemning organ harvesting from living practitioners

Practitioners march

The Divine Land Marching Band

The march started at noon in downtown Melbourne and proceeded along Swanston Avenue. Practitioners held up banners, which read, "The World Needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," "Falun Dafa is good," "Disintegrate the Chinese Communist Party and Stop the Persecution," and so on. The Divine Land Marching Band led the group. Following the band were practitioners in white, holding photos of those who were tortured to death during the persecution. During the march, practitioners also re-enacted tortures that the Chinese police applied to practitioners in China.

Mr. Zhou, a Chinese student who came to Australia five months ago, was astonished by the persecution. He said that he didn't know anything about the persecution, because all the information about Falun Gong is blocked in China. He said that he planned to read the materials he obtained from practitioners and make his own judgment on the matter.

Mr. Michael Pearce, president of Liberty Victoria, speaks

Mr. Peter Westmore, president of Australia's National Civic Council, gives a speech

A rally was held after the march, at 2:00 p.m. Mr. Michael Pearce, president of Liberty Victoria, along with Mr. Peter Westmore, president of Australia's National Civic Council, and other community leaders, spoke at the rally, expressing their support for Falun Gong and calling for an end to the persecution.

Several Falun Gong practitioners who escaped from China related their experiences of being subjected to persecution and abuse. Ms. Peng, who came to Australia a few days ago, was a teacher in China. She was arrested and jailed in a detention center for twenty days in 2001 because she practices Falun Gong. In 2003, she was arrested again and jailed for six months. After being released, she was sent to a brainwashing center.

Practitioners also performed short skits which depicted the spread of the practice, the brutal persecution, and the peaceful resistance against the persecution.