(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a peaceful protest against the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong on the west lawn of US Capitol on July 16, 2015. Several US lawmakers attended the rally and gave speeches.

AFP reported on July 16, “'You're peaceful, you're compassionate, you're tolerant, you're people that should be respected for your beliefs instead of being persecuted by the communist tyrants in Beijing,' House Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told hundreds of practitioners who gathered at the US Capitol's grassy west front.”

“Many of them were dressed in yellow shirts, carrying banners denouncing treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China and displaying photographs of purported victims of Beijing's crackdown.”

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. During the past 16 years, more than 3800 Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed tortured to death. The actual number is likely to be much higher as such information is strictly censored in China.

The report stated, “Last month Ros-Lehtinen and other US lawmakers introduced a resolution condemning China's human rights violations, and noting 'persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting' of Chinese prisoners of conscience, including a large number of Falun Gong practitioners.”

“Conservative Republican Ted Poe called for the imprisonment of former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin (1993-2003), who issued orders in 1999 to eliminate the group, and implored the rally attendees to 'not give up'.”

“Four elected officials attended the rally and a dozen have written letters of support. Non-profit groups like Reporters Without Borders were also present.”

The report noted, “In 2002, 2004 and 2010 the House of Representatives passed resolutions condemning the regime's persecution of Falun Gong.”

“'I'm a political refugee from Cuba, and so for me any persecution is near and dear to my heart,' Ros-Lehtinen told AFP.”