NEW YORK—Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square on Friday to celebrate the 12th annual World Falun Dafa Day. In the morning, rows of people performed slow-moving exercises in unison.
Afterward, the group sat silently as they practiced meditation. Spectators formed a semi-circle around them at the south end of the park and quietly watched.
Things became more festive following the morning exercises as a pair of hosts greeted the crowd and welcomed them to take part in the celebrations. “Falun Gong Practitioners have gathered to celebrate this day with song, dance, and other artistic performances,” said one of the hosts. “We invite you to see how it manifests in practitioners’ life through art,” he said.
A string of performances continued throughout the afternoon that included singing, dancing, martial arts demonstrations, and instrumental music performances that ranged from a full-sized marching band, to chamber music and classical Chinese song and dance.
Practitioners and supporters of Falun Dafa mark May 13 as World Falun Dafa Day to celebrate the beauty and benefits of the practice. May 13 is also the birthday of the founder of the practice, Mr. Li Hongzhi.
Adryahn Hawkings, a building coordinator from New York, began practicing Falun Gong two years ago. He says it gives him a “certain amount of strength” that he did not have before. Trying to live according to the practice’s principles has made him more patient and helpful to other people, Hawkings said.
Currently, the Chinese regime is waging a brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. The persecution began in 1999. The Falun Dafa Information Center estimates that thousands of practitioners have been tortured to death, and hundreds of thousands have been sent to forced-labor camps and unlawfully detained.
New York state assemblyman for the 79th district in the Bronx, Eric Stevenson, was at Union Square Friday to present a proclamation he introduced in the state assembly on Tuesday. The proclamation recognizes May 13 as Falun Dafa Day and recognizes May 2011 as Falun Dafa Month in the state of New York.
“I believe in peace and peaceful movements. As elected officials, we should be able to support these movements if that is what we want to see in our society,” said Assemblyman Stevenson.
“I hope that we will get the president to understand what is going on about Falun Dafa,” Stevenson said of the persecution in China. “Let’s move the politics aside and talk about saving people’s lives. You should not support the persecution of people. It [Falun Dafa] is a peaceful movement. People want to practice, and this should be allowed.”
Visitors to Union Square enjoyed the event. Sion Fullna, an artist filming a documentary on mobile phone photography, came to the park to film parts of his documentary. “Between the music and the people—they look serene—it’s contagious in a way. It makes you feel peaceful,” he remarked at the sight of hundreds of people meditating in the square.
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