WASHINGTON—On July 14, hundreds gathered on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol to raise awareness about and protest the Chinese communist regime’s violent persecution of a traditional meditation practice now in its 17th year.
Falun Gong is on the “front line against evil,” declared Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a long-term and vocal supporter of the practice in the face of repression.
“We have sent the message loud and clear to the Chinese Communist Party that we demand an immediate end to the persecution of the Falun Gong, that we demand that all jailed Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience be released, and that we call on China to immediately stop its inhumane and unethical practice of organ harvesting,” said Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who introduced into the House of Representatives a resolution censuring forced organ harvesting in China, which unanimously passed on June 13.
At the rally, practitioners of Falun Gong wore their characteristic yellow and blue clothes while holding banners in support of their faith. Some from mainland China had suffered horrendous torture at the hands of the Chinese authorities.
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‘Barbaric Violators’
Apart from prominent congressional representatives, other speakers at the annual event included representatives of human rights organizations and NGOs.
“America was founded by those committed to ensuring religious liberty,” said Mark P. Lagon, president of the Freedom House. “Our leaders, government, and civil society must hold our major trade partners and other countries to the same standards.”
Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a Chinese spiritual practice that combines qigong exercises with teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. By orders of then-Communist Party head Jiang Zemin, in July 1999 Chinese security forces launched a methodical campaign of mass arrests and widespread propaganda against the practice and the estimated 70 million Chinese who had taken it up.
