(Minghui.org) Practitioners in Los Angeles gathered at Santa Monica Pier Park, a famous tourist attraction, on July 28, 2024. Their activities included group exercises, a rally and speech, and a parade on the pier promenade to call for the persecution of Falun Dafa to end.
Santa Monica is a famous beach city in California, named one of the top ten beach cities in the world by National Geographic Magazine. It is also the end point of Route 66 in the United States, also known as the Mother Road.
Visitors packed the Santa Monica beach and pier that afternoon. Falun Dafa practitioners marched along the pier holding signs that read: “SOS Stop Forced Organ Harvesting from Living Falun Gong Practitioners in China,” “Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong in China,” and “The World Needs Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance.”
People read the signs and took fliers as they walked by. Some took photos and some raised their thumbs to show their support.
Practitioners rallied at Santa Monica beach on the morning of July 28, 2024.
Practitioners do the Falun Dafa exercises at Santa Monica beach on July 28, 2024.
Some people asked to learn the exercises.
Practitioners talked to visitors about the 25-year-long persecution in China.
A board with information about the forced organ harvesting from practitioners in China.
Visitors sign on a petition in support of Falun Dafa.
Practitioners march along Santa Monica pier.
Eric Cummins condemns the CCP’s persecution
Eric Cummins said he thought it was amazing to see so many people expressing their demands and that the beliefs they support and fight for are great. “It was shocking to see some of the content on the fliers and posters. I really didn’t expect that such a thing would happen today. I thought it happened a long time ago. I can’t believe that all this persecution is still going on,” he said.
Cummins condemned the evil of the CCP and said he would tell everyone he knew.
Zack Li addressed the rally and described the persecution his parents experienced.
Falun Dafa practitioner Zach Li described how his parents were persecuted. His father died when he was only 55 years old after being jailed and tortured for practicing Falun Dafa.
On July 20, 1999, Zack’s father was taken away from home by the police. “What I didn’t know at the time was how cruel and insane the abuse and beatings my parents suffered in prison were,” Zach said. “When I was ten years old and saw my mother chained to a metal chair, I could not stop crying. When I saw my father, I could hardly recognize him.”
During those years, his family’s property was looted by the police; his father died in 2011 after suffering long-term, brutal torture.
Karen Kang asked for help to secure the release of three relatives in Shanxi Province.
Practitioner Karen Kang asked for help at the rally to rescue her three relatives illegally detained in Shanxi Province China for practicing Falun Dafa. Hou Lijun, her nephew, had not contacted his family since he was taken away by police 15 months ago, until his family received a notice that he was sentenced to 15 years.
Her younger sister Kang Shumei and her son Zhang Gu were also taken away by police from the Food, Drug and Environmental Protection Investigation Brigade of the Gujiao City, a branch of the Public Security Bureau in Shanxi Province, on October 31, 2022 for practicing Falun Dafa. They have been detained ever since and their relatlives are not allowed to visit them.
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