(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in the São Paulo region of Brazil held an event in Liberdade on April 25, 2023, to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the April 25 peaceful appeal in China. 

Practitioners introduced Falun Gong and protested the ongoing Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution and the CCP’s forced organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit. They called on people from all walks of life to work together to end this persecution.

Falun Gong practitioners in the São Paulo region hold an awareness-raising event on April 25, 2023.

The Liberdade District of São Paulo, also known as the Oriental District, is located in the central area of São Paulo and has a distinctive oriental cultural atmosphere. Most of this area is where people from Asia live. On the day of the event, Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the five Falun Gong – also called Falun Dafa – exercises. The peaceful exercise music and the practitioners’ graceful movements caught the attention of many passers-by. They stopped and watched the ongoing activities.

Marcos

Marcos, who lives locally, said that he learned about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong through Brazil’s New Tang Dynasty Television. He said, “The CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong is going to the opposite [of] democracy and justice. It is getting further and further away from peaceful coexistence. The Chinese people want to move forward, but they are held back by the CCP. I feel very sad about this persecution.”

An 89-year-old man learns the exercises. 

The Falun Dafa display boards drew the attention of an older Japanese gentleman passing by. The practitioners introduced Falun Gong to him and spoke about the CCP’s brutal persecution. The man, who is 89, expressed his willingness to learn the exercises. Before leaving, he took the Falun Gong informational materials and said he would go home and read them carefully.

For many, the event was the first time they heard about Falun Dafa and the ongoing persecution in China. Thirty-five-year-old Giosmaiver Crivellaro was one of them.

                             
Giosmaiver Crivellaro from Venezuela learned about Falun Gong and the persecution for the first time.

Crivellaro is a sales analyst who has lived in Brazil for five years. She was drawn by the exercises demonstration and said, “I discovered (Falun Dafa) today, and I am very interested.” To her, Falun Dafa is a practice that teaches people to become better people. She feels sympathy for practitioners who are persecuted for their belief. “The torture and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and live organ harvesting are really bad.” She said it was unfair, because everyone should have the freedom of belief.

                       
       A practitioner protests the persecution in front of the Chinese General Consulate in Sao Paulo.

That same day, two practitioners peacefully protested in front of the Chinese Consulate in Sao Paulo. They distributed leaflets to people waiting in line to enter the consulate. Many people were interested in the information they distributed and wanted to learn more about the persecution.