(Clearwisdom.net) On October 21, 2002, practitioners from "Rescue Our Family Members and Bring them Home" Car Tour Eastern and Western Routes, and several practitioners from Houston and Washington DC assembled outside the Texas State Capitol to hold a joint press conference.
The practitioners held photo display boards depicting the Jiang regime's brutal persecution of Falun Dafa and Falun Dafa practitioners, peacefully demonstrated Dafa practitioners' demeanor to the Austin people, the media and tourists from all over the world, and exposed the Jiang regime's atrocious crimes with irrefutable evidence. The scene was touching.
Eight Dafa practitioners told of the persecution imposed upon themselves and their family members. One practitioner's over 70-year-old mother was illegally detained for a year because she practiced Falun Dafa. She has been subjected to all kinds of torture and is now still under surveillance and has no freedom. The whole family of one practitioner's sister has been arrested and detained multiple times; her young child lives in fear and pain, and has been greatly traumatized. The 70-year-old mother of a practitioner has been illegally sent to a mental hospital for three months because of practicing Falun Dafa. A practitioner's wife was forcibly taken away while she was preparing for dinner, and he has lost all contact with her for several months. The practitioner spent their 30th anniversary alone in great sorrow. A young couple was forced to separate and no message about the other's life and death has been received ever since. A practitioner told of the pain of losing her father... Their bitter experiences of losing their loved ones deeply touched the reporters and tourists passing by.
The practitioners' exercise demonstration at the press conference attracted many tourists and State government staff members who asked questions and signed their names to support Falun Gong. Some people wanted to learn the exercises right then. The practitioners also presented to different departments of the State government Dafa information packages and Dafa truth-clarifying VCDs.
Some media covered the press conference, including one of the most influential newspapers in Austin, the Austin American-Statesman.
