(Minghui.org) On July 20, 2013, Falun Gong practitioners from Philadelphia held a rally in Chinatown, raising awareness about Falun Gong and exposing the brutal persecution in China. Practitioners set up display boards, passed out flyers, gave speeches and collected signatures.

The rally

People signing the petition.

Raising awareness

One of the speakers at the event, Ms. Xie, started practicing Falun Gong in 2008. Her diseases magically disappeared soon after taking up the practice. However, because of her belief in Falun Gong, she was arrested three times, and policemen often came to her house, harassing her. She lost her job. A few months ago, she successfully escaped to America. Another speaker at the event, Ms. Lin, also escaped to America two months ago. She started practicing in 2000. She was arrested and fired by her workplace because she told people about Falun Gong.

Dr. Fang from Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting reviewed the facts of the Chinese government's harvesting Falun Gong practitioners' organs. He also told the audience about the recently initiated House Resolution 281, which urges the Chinese government to stop the organ harvesting, and conduct thorough investigations into this crime. The resolution also urged the Chinese government to stop the 14-year long persecution of Falun Gong. Dr. Fang called upon the attendees to sign a petition supporting the resolution.

Many local people and tourists listened to the speeches and viewed the information displays. Ingrid Wang from Tokyo is familiar with Falun Gong. She often sees a local group of practitioners exercising in the park. She signed the petition and said: “These Falun Gong practitioners are truly great. They have a sense of conscience and justice, something that everybody should have. The world would be a better place if everybody followed the principles of 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.'”

Tim Lee is a Chinese-American student at the University of Pennsylvania. He was shocked upon learning about Communist regime's organ harvesting crimes. He signed the petition and said: “It is unimaginable. It violates basic human rights. I will tell my friends about this.”

Greg Shannon, an officer at a local post office, said that the U.S. Government should take actions to help stop the persecution. Many local citizens who stopped at the event made similar statements.