(Minghui.org) The city of Angarsk, Russia, celebrated City Day by hosting events in several venues on Saturday, May 27, 2023. The Angarsk city administration invited Falun Dafa practitioners to take part in the festivities with an event in Petrochemist Park that introduced the practice to the public.

Practitioners from Angarsk and Irkutsk demonstrated the exercises and set up tables with information about Falun Dafa in the central walkway of the park. According to the City Day organizers, at least 5,000 people visited the park that day.

Introducing Falun Gong to the public in Petrochemist Park on May 27, 2023.

A woman signs the petition calling for an end to the persecution.

During the event, practitioners told visitors about Falun Dafa and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brutal persecution, including the CCP-sanctioned forced organ harvesting from living practitioners. Practitioners also collected signatures on a petition to the Russian government, asking it to condemn forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Oksana (right) talks with a practitioner.

Oksana came from another city and had never heard of Falun Dafa. She listened as practitioners introduced Falun Dafa, and it moved her deeply. She said that looking at her nine-year-old grandson, she understands that children are especially suffering due to the moral decline in society. Such an atmosphere deprives them of kindness and respect for elders, and they become nervous and disobedient.

“They really need the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become calmer and more peaceful,” she said.

A practitioner tells Natalia about the persecution of Falun Gong in China

Natalia, a passerby, said that hearing about Falun Gong's situation in China shocked her. She knew that China was not doing well with human rights, but she did not think that the situation was as bad as it was, with Falun Gong practitioners subjected to forced organ harvesting. Natalia also said that if money is at the forefront of society, human rights will be in a bad situation.

Tamara, a longtime friend of Falun Dafa.

Tamara is a longtime friend of the practice of Falun Dafa. She stopped by the practitioners’ event. She sometimes comes to Angarsky Arbat, where practitioners do the exercises, to meet practitioners. Tamara expressed that Falun Dafa is good for people and that she has long known about the brutal persecution of the practice in China. She took part in the “Petals of Peace” campaign many times to make origami lotus flowers to raise awareness of the persecution in China. She gave many of the lotuses she made to her family and friends. She even spoke to her granddaughter about Falun Dafa and advised her to look for practitioners in her city.

Teaching people to fold origami lotus flowers.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology, and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 24 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.