5 hours Ago By Frank Fang
Rallies were recently held in several cities across the United States to commemorate a peaceful protest that happened 26 years ago in China, where the communist regime has no tolerance for public dissent. Falun Gong practitioners held events in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, and New York to observe what is now known as the April 25 appeal, an event that took place in Beijing, China’s capital. On April 25, 1999, about 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners from various walks of life and across China gathered near Zhongnanhai, the compound of high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party.
They demanded the release of 45 fellow practitioners who had been arrested days earlier in Tianjin city and called for the protection of their rights to practice their faith freely. Zheng Cunzhu, chairman of the local committee of the China Democracy Party in Los Angeles, said at the event that overseas Chinese and governments in the West should be concerned about the ongoing persecution against Falun Gong. “If we are not vigilant and allow the CCP’s authoritarian force to expand around the world .
.. in the end, it will spread worldwide like COVID-19,” Zheng said.
Gong said she traveled to Beijing with her family and arrived very early on that day. “The practitioners were all extremely quiet without causing a disturbance. Some just stood there, while others did the Falun Gong exercises or read,” Gong said.
“In the evening, knowing that the CCP authorities had promised not to suppress Falun Gong and would release the Tianjin practitioners, the crowd dispersed quietly.” Gong said the Chinese authorities arrested the 45 Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin to lure practitioners from all over the country to come to Beijing and file their appeals. When they arrived in the capital city on April 25, 1999, she said, the police also “deliberately arranged” for the practitioners to gather on the sidewalks of two streets next to Zhongnanhai, creating the impression that they were carrying out a “siege.
” “Some people think that if the April 25 event had not occurred, the suppression against Falun Gong could have been avoided. This view reflects a lack of understanding of the CCP’s conspiratorial nature,” Gong said. In Chicago, a group of local Falun Gong practitioners held their event in front of the Chinese Consulate on April 19.
Sun, from northern Liaoning Province, said he didn’t get the chance to participate in the appeal 26 years ago because he was just a high school student at the time. “This is my first time taking part in an April 25 event. To be able to come to this free society and participate in such a grand event, I am very fortunate,” Sun said.
“I hope people can remember this part of history, understand the truth about Falun Gong, and work together to stop this persecution.”.
