Dissidents Rally Outside Chinese Embassy, Seeking Release of Mother, Sister

The gathering in Washington came ahead of the 37th anniversary of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square massacre, also a taboo subject in China.

Falun Gong practitioners Alisa Zhou (L) and Tong Shuzhen stand in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington on May 30, 2026. Zhou's mother Wang Youmei and Tong's sister Tong Shuying have been detained since April in Wuhan, China, because of their faith. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Dozens of people gathered outside the Chinese embassy in Washington on May 30 to hold a rally and draw attention to the plight of their faith community under the communist regime’s brutal persecution.

“I call on the Chinese authorities to immediately release my mother, Wang Youmei, and free all Falun Gong practitioners,” Alisa Zhou, a U.S. citizen, said in front of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outpost. “The persecution must be stopped.”

Wang has been detained in the central Chinese city of Wuhan since April 15, part of a mass arrest in which 16 others were also taken from various locations across the city—all for their faith in Falun Gong.

The spiritual practice, also known as Falun Dafa, includes meditative exercises and a set of moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. An estimated 70 million to 100 million people in China had taken up the practice by 1999. Then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin, who considered Falun Gong’s popularity a threat to the regime’s power, initiated a nationwide campaign to wipe it out.

Zhou said the family is kept in the dark about her mother’s situation. Their request to visit her was denied. Her lawyer struggled to obtain any information from the authorities—such as who is overseeing the case, or what stage it’s at.

Among those arrested on April 15, three were sent to a brainwashing center, yet their families don’t know the facility’s location. The whereabouts of another practitioner, surnamed Xiao, remain unknown, Zhou said.

“It seems the authorities are trying to shut everyone out, then they can do whatever they want,” Zhou told The Epoch Times. “Living in a free world, I feel the responsibility to speak out for those who cannot.”

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The event came ahead of the 37th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when the CCP deployed troops and tanks to quash unarmed pro-democracy students calling for political reform at the Chinese capital.

Next to the Falun Gong rally on May 30, dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators also gathered to commemorate the incident.

“Falun Dafa is great,” they chanted.

Pro-democracy activists participate in a protest commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington on May 30, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

‘Stand With Us’

At the gathering, Tong Shuzhen, a New York resident, appealed to Americans to help rescue her sister, Tong Shuying, who was taken from her workplace by the Wuhan police on April 15.

Like Zhou, Tong’s family initially received a notice stating that she had been placed under a 15-day administrative detention for practicing Falun Gong. But on May 1, while preparing to bring her home, they were told that Tong Shuying’s case had been upgraded to the criminal level.

No official documents or explanation were given—including how long her detention might last—highlighting the secrecy surrounding the persecutionary campaign against the practice, the family said. They watched the police car drive Tong Shuying away.

“There’s no feeling of safety at home,” Tong told The Epoch Times. “The police don’t need to go through any procedures and can raid someone’s home as they want.”

Tong Shuzhen stands in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington on May 30, 2026. Tong's sister Tong Shuying has been detained since April in Wuhan, China, because of her faith. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Li Shuangde, a former human rights lawyer in China, told The Epoch Times that the police’s actions “clearly breached the law.” If criminal detention is imposed, a written notice must be presented to family members, specifying where the person is held and the reasons for the detention, he said.

According to Minghui, a website dedicated to documenting the persecution, the younger Tong is held in Wuhan No. 1 Detention Center, along with Zhou’s mother and Wu Guihong, another practitioner who was arrested on the same day.

Tong Shuzhen fears they could face severe persecution, including potential imprisonment.

Reports from human rights watchdogs and first-hand accounts from survivors show Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to give up the faith often face severe abuses, including lengthy sentences, slave labor, and even death by forced organ harvesting.

“As a family and a Falun Gong practitioner who had been through similar persecution, I really worry about the safety of my sister,” she said outside the Chinese embassy.

Before coming to the United States in 2016, Tong Shuzhen said she had been detained by the Chinese police four times for her faith. As she was a single mother, her children were left unattended during these periods.

Falun Gong practitioners gather in front of the Chinese Embassy to call attention to the plight of their faith community under the communist regime's brutal persecution in Washington on May 30, 2026. Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times

“Once, after raiding my home, the police pushed me into a police car and took me away.

“My young son ran after the vehicle, crying out ‘mommy’ again and again,” Tong recalled. “The relentless persecution has brought extreme mental and psychological trauma to my family and me.”

“I hope the U.S. government and every person of conscience could lend a hand supporting them and rescuing them,“ she said. “I hope they can stand with us, calling on the CCP to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

Hope

Wei Jingsheng, a prominent Chinese dissident who joined the pro-democracy rally on Saturday, signed a petition calling on U.S. lawmakers to adopt a measure aiming to protect the faith group from state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China.

“We’ve never lost faith in the country’s future,” Wei told The Epoch Times. “While the Communist Party suppressed that movement, it could never silence the will of the people. Our resolve only grows stronger.”

Wei Jingsheng, a prominent Chinese human rights activist, signs a petition in support of the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act, which aims to sanction perpetrators of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China, in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington on May 30, 2026. Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times

Wei, who served 18 years in the regime’s prisons for advocating democracy before being exiled to the United States in the 1990s, said he observed a “fundamental shift” in China’s public opinion despite the regime’s heavy censorship.

“In the past, like during the June 4 movement, students pinned their hopes on the CCP, trying to talk to the authorities and convince them to change. But now things are different. People have realized that the Communist Party cares nothing about reasons,” Wei said.

“What everyone is most interested in right now is when the Communist Party will collapse, and how it will collapse.

“Considering this public sentiment, the Communist Party’s days are likely numbered.”

Sherry Dong contributed to this report.