(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Canberra, Australia, assembled on a pedestrian walking street in the city center on July 20, 2022, to mark the 23-year of the persecution of Falun Dafa by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They practiced the exercises, clarified the truth to people and collected signatures on a petition to end the persecution. In the evening, they held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy. 

People stopped to read the practitioners’ display boards and some came to the practitioners’ booth to get fliers about Falun Dafa and the persecution. Many people signed a petition to end the persecution, and some started to learn the Falun Dafa exercise movements. 

Canberra Falun Dafa practitioners in the city center on July 20, 2022

Practitioner: Arrested Several Times and Forced to Do Hard Labor

Li Hui, a Falun Dafa practitioner from China, was illegally arrested and detained several times in China because of her belief in Falun Dafa. She was tortured severely while held in detention. 

“According to the rules, 12 people were to sleep in the long bed in the cell. But often 20 people slept on it,” she said. “Sometimes 23 people were on the bed. We had to sleep on our sides. When someone went to the toilet and came back, she would not be able to squeeze in. She had to wake up the person beside her so they could squeeze in together. Sometimes the guards opened the window in the winter. The snow flew into the room and covered half of the cell. We wore few clothes and our blanket was thin. It was freezing cold in winter. In summer, the guards closed the window and turned off the fan. It was so hot in the cell. The rubbish in the room smelled terrible.”

“I was forced to do hard labor. I got up at 6 a.m. and went to fold paper ‘money’ for temples that would be used to burn money for the dead. This imitation money was coated with silver powder and irritated the skin. The air in the cell was full of the silver powder and it was hazardous to our health. I often felt dizzy. Because of the excessive folding, my fingers were deformed and painful.”

“The guards ordered the criminals to torture practitioners. They beat practitioners and deprived them of sleep. Practitioners were sent to solitary confinement or force fed. They tried to force me to write the three statements to denounce Falun Dafa. I refused. The guards made me sit on a tiny stool for a long period of time and deprived me of sleep. My bottom became unbearably painful after sitting for such a long time.”

Li Hui came to Australia in 2018. She said, “Quite a few years have passed. I still miss the practitioners who are persecuted in China. Among the practitioners I know, more than 10 practitioners have been persecuted to death. The persecution will end eventually. Those who do evil will be punished.”

“I Fully Support Everything You Do”

Don Johnston, a retired officer, came across the practitioners’ activities in Canberra. He said that China is destroying itself under the evil regime and the regime is dreadful. He said that the CCP does evil and cruel things to Falun Gong practitioners who were detained in the concentration camps, and harvested practitioners’ organs. 

He expressed his full support to Falun Gong practitioners in everything they do, such as exposing the evil and countering the persecution peacefully. 

The CCP Wants to Destroy Every Person on This Earth

Ms. Ren Rossiter came to the Falun Gong booth and signed the petition calling for an end to the persecution. She said that the CCP must end the persecution of Falun Gong and the Uyghur people, and that every Australian should be ashamed that Australia allows the CCP to operate and have ownership of companies in Australia. She said that the CCP intended to destroy all the people on this earth. 

She acknowledged that Falun Gong was peaceful and beneficial to society and represented Chinese culture. She said that those kind people were persecuted by the CCP and had their organs harvested, and that the Human Rights Commission in the United Nations should come forward to stop the persecution of these kind people.”

People Don’t Have the Right to Know under the CCP Rule

Mr. Texas Webster (on the left) talks to a Falun Gong practitioner.

Texas Webster is a university student. He said that he was concerned for Chinese people who live under the authoritarian regime and that Chinese people don’t have the right to know about things because of the censorship and oppression. He said that organ harvesting was the most hideous crime. He would like to know more about Falun Dafa. 

He took a Falun Gong pamphlet and signed the petition to end the persecution. 

Hoping the Persecution Will End Soon

Ms. Retni Ardilla

Ms. Retni Ardilla is a university student who comes from Indonesia. She had not heard of Falun Dafa before. When she passed practitioners who were doing the exercises she became interested. She said that the exercises were beautiful and she felt a good energy and comfortable. She learned that Falun Dafa improves people’s health and morality and is a good practice but is persecuted by the CCP. She hopes that the persecution will end soon. 

She was shocked when she learned that some Chinese reporters were arrested and sentenced because they reported factual information about the pandemic. 

Candlelight Vigil in Front of the Chinese Embassy 

Practitioners held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in Canberra in the evening to pay tribute to the Chinese practitioners who were persecuted to death. They called on people from all walks of life to work together to end the CCP’s brutal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. 

Falun Dafa practitioners held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in Canberra calling for an end to the persecution. 

One of the Falun Dafa practitioners, Ms. Ma Li said, “The CCP uses every means that thugs use to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners in order to force them to give up their belief. Over the past 23 years, nearly 100 million practitioners and their family members have been monitored and slandered. Millions of practitioners have been arrested, detained, sent to forced labor camps, sentenced and detained in the brainwashing centers. Many have been tortured to death. Millions of families were broken. The CCP harvests organs from the Falun Dafa practitioners on a large scale. The CCP commits the evilest crimes. It is the worst crimes against humanity in this century.”

“No matter how crazy the CCP is we will continue exposing the CCP’s lies and spread the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to the whole world and let people know that Falun Dafa is wonderful,” she said.