(Clearwisdom.net) On May 13, Falun Gong practitioners from Calgary in western Canada celebrated the 12^th World Falun Dafa Day and the 60^th birthday of Master Li Hongzhi at Olympic Plaza. Practitioners demonstrated the exercises, set up truth-clarifying display boards, passed out materials and answered questions from the public.

Demonstrating the exercises

Talking to people about Falun Gong and the persecution

People are drawn to the exercises

Many people were drawn to the peaceful exercises. They took photos of practitioners and asked for detailed information of Falun Gong.

One lady carefully viewed the display boards, then took pictures of each board so that she could show the contents to her family. She talked to practitioners for a long time and then asked a practitioner to take a picture of her with the exercise demonstration as the background.

Many people, including Chinese, accepted the truth-clarifying materials and some of them learned the exercises. A Western couple watched the exercises for 20 minutes. The wife told practitioners that she had to hold back her tears. “The exercises made me feel energy and I was peaceful in my heart. It is so beautiful and touching,” she said.

People were shocked when they learned about the persecution. One gentleman said that in this free country, everybody should stand up and fight for justice and freedom of belief. People encouraged practitioners to keep going and wished them good luck.

An independent media producer took video footage of the event. He said that everybody should have the freedom to express themselves. He said the Chinese Communist Party persecutes all beliefs. “We should fight for a piece of free land. I hope I can do something too,” he said.