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Falun Gong Practitioners Rally and Parade in Boston, Call for an End to the Persecution and State-run Terrorism (Photos)

July 30, 2004

(Clearwisdom.net) On July 25, 2004, nearly 2000 Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world gathered in Boston and attended a rally and parade initiated by the "Global Coalition to Stop the Chinese Communist Party from Exporting State-run Terrorism." They hope to let more people know what Falun Dafa is about. At the same time, they called upon various governments, organizations, and kindhearted people to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

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A banner reading Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance

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Procession of the parade

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Demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises

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Bring Jiang to Justice

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Mourning fellow practitioners tortured to death

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Nothing can shake the righteous belief in Truth

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Displaying the torture methods

At the rally, several big banners reading "Bring Jiang to Justice" and "Strongly Condemn Jiang's Regime's Hiring Thugs to Murder Innocent People" conveyed the messages that practitioners wanted people to know.

Over a dozen people representing different groups gave speeches at the rally. They exposed the state-run terrorism conducted by Jiang's regime and called for an end to the persecution. The first speaker was Mr. Sun from the "Global Coalition to Stop the Chinese Communist Party from Exporting State-run Terrorism." He said, "We are here today to strongly condemn the biggest terrorist group -- the Chinese Ruling party. We condemn their crimes of exporting state-run terrorism overseas... The shooting in South Africa shocked the peace loving people of the world. This incident tells us how the evil Chinese communist party blatantly defies human moral values and civility. It marks the escalation of the terrorism and reflects the last-ditch efforts of the Chinese Ruling party.

The second speaker was a female practitioner who was present when the shooting happened in South Africa. She said, "When we learned that Zeng Qinghong and other Chinese officials were to visit South Africa, we wanted to go there to express our wish to stop the persecution. We had never thought there would be any danger. We strongly condemn such a terrorist act."

Mr. Wang, representing practitioners from 18 countries, whose Chinese passports were confiscated or were refused to be renewed, called upon China to "stop the persecution of practitioners in China, guarantee the most basic human rights to practitioners, stop exporting state-run terrorism and harassing practitioners overseas, and return overseas Chinese people's basic human rights --nationality." He pointed out that the behavior of the Chinese embassies and consulates to refuse to renew practitioners' passports has violated the Chinese constitution.

Another speaker said, "The recent shooting incident in South Africa further indicates the escalation of Jiang's regime's persecution of overseas practitioners. This reminds us overseas Chinese that the best way to protect our rights is to stand up to stop the spread of such an evil persecution."

Outside Copley Square, where the rally was held, practitioners were demonstrating the torture methods used to persecute practitioners in China. The bloody scene shocked passersby. Many people stopped to watch. Several people shed tears while watching the demonstration.

After the rally, practitioners started the parade. The procession was composed of two major sections. The first section displayed the spread of Falun Dafa in the world. The beginning of the parade was led by banners reading "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," as well as lion dancing and dragon dancing. What followed were practitioners dancing and singing, expressing the joy practitioners have after obtaining Dafa, and reflecting the wide spread of Falun Dafa. The waist drum team's strong drumbeat shocked the evil and sent blessings to the people of the world. Among the parade were also ladies displaying Tang Dynasty costumes, dancing team showing heavenly girls casting flowers, practitioners from Taiwan showing ethnic dances, and many others. They also told people how Falun Dafa is being welcomed by the people of different races and ethnicities.

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Dragon dancing

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Waist drum team

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Lotus flower dance

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Fan dancing

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Students from Minghui school

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Children demonstrating Falun Gong exercises

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Audience showing "Peace" gestures

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Elderly woman joyful at seeing the parade

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Gentleman very happy to receive the truth clarification material

A Taiwan Falun Gong practitioner said that about 100 practitioners from Taiwan came to Boston to attend the parade. He said, "Falun Gong is very welcome in Taiwan and is being spread quickly. Now several hundred thousand people are practicing Falun Gong in Taiwan and the Taiwanese government is very supportive of Falun Gong. However, in mainland China, where we share the same cultural root, Falun Gong is being brutally persecuted. This is really unbelievable."

The second section of the parade had the theme of "anti-persecution." There were two big wreaths led by female practitioners in white at the beginning of this section. One wreath had a big Chinese character meaning "mourning" and the other wreath had pictures of some of the practitioners who were tortured to death. After the wreaths were banners reading "Bring Jiang to Justice" and "Stop Jiang's Hiring of Thugs to Murder Innocent People," as well as others.

The parade attracted many people. When the parade came to Chinatown, many people lined up along the sides of the street to watch. They gave warm applause to the practitioners. Some people followed the practitioners in saying "Falun Dafa is good." One person said, "Jiang Zemin is so bad! He even persecutes such good people. He really has no human nature."

Many people asked for truth-clarification materials from the practitioners.