Press Conference in Richmond, Virginia - July 15, 2000. Bike ride leaving Florida on Sunday, July 1, 2001, with final destination in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, July 19, 2001.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - July 15, 2001

The press conference was held at the Nature Pavilion of Richmond's beautiful Deep Run Park in a serene setting.á The local press attending this conference were Richmond's channel 6 news team; Virginia Currents, Channel 23 Richmond PBS; and Richmond Times Dispatch.á The biking team members are Chris Jasurek, Robert Lu, Brian Sun, and Elly Xu. Practitioners from surrounding areas, and as far away as the Washington Metropolitan area, joined the press conference and the activities. The activities included group exercises, a press conference, lunch, a car parade to Richmond's China Town, a walk through China Town, and a send-off of the bike team to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to the next press conference, to be held on July 16, 2001.á Fredericksburg meant another 72 miles of hard bicycling to reach the next press conference on time.

The group practice set the stage for the tone of the event, underscoring the peaceful purpose, tranquil mood of the Dafa practitioners, as well as the underlying suggestion of practitioners' adherence to the universal laws of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

The press conference began with an introduction, an explanation of this historic event, commemoration of those who were tortured to death in China and a discussion of the suffering of Dafa practitioners in Chinaáby Leejun Ivie. Mr. Sam Forrest then read the U.S. State Department's latest admonition of China's persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners.á The welcoming speech was given by Heide Malhotra, who introduced the biking team who had braved hot, cold and rainy weather to let the world know about the genocide in China against Falun Gong practitioners.á Other practitioners talked about their experiences of the ride and the persecution in China. The question-and-answer session resulted in a lively discussion with respect to "Why China is persecuting practitioners" and "Are practitioners praying to stop the persecution in China." During lunch, the reporters interviewed members of the bike team and some of the practitioners and openly admitted that they wished to listen in on the discussions amongst practitioners.

For the car parade to Chinatown, the practitioners painted "SOS Falun Dafa" and other slogans on their cars in white, water based paints.á The only question practitioners have is how to get the paint off.á Richmond's police were very gracious and escorted the cars to Chinatown and then to the county border.á The practitioners sent the bike team off after group pictures.á The bikers continued their historic journey on Route 1.

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