LOS ANGELES—Practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong and their supporters gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate on Sept. 13 to call for an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the practice, which has recently intensified.
In the first half of this year, 40 practitioners of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, died in China due to torture and mistreatment, according to Minghui.org, a website that documents the persecution. Many succumbed to long-term abuses in prison, and many were denied needed medical treatment.