(Minghui.org) “I did not know my wife died during police custody until four months later. She was kept in a brainwashing center and I was held in a labor camp because we practiced Falun Gong,” Mr. Huang Guohua said at a rally on July 20, 2014.

“At the age of 29 - and three months pregnant - she died,” he added.

On this chilly winter day, practitioners had a parade and rally at Queen Elizabeth Square in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, to raise awareness of the 15-year-long persecution against Falun Gong in China.

Passersby surrounded the site to learn what had happened. Practitioners demonstrated the exercises, held up banners, and re-enacted several torture methods practitioners typically suffer in police custody.

Practitioners telling pedestrians about the 15-year-long persecution in China

Photographer: Western Media Should Not Ignore Such a Severe Human Rights Violation

Pointing to a cage next to him, Mr. Huang said he had been detained in such a cage in a local police station in 2000 after police found out he was practicing Falun Gong. “In addition, I was severely beaten and forced to do slave labor,” he said.

Re-enactment of torture methods used on practitioners in China: Iron cage and live organ harvesting

Ms. Luo Zhixiang, wife of Mr. Huang Guohua, died in police custody at the age of 29 in 2002

Ms. Luo Zhixiang, an ‎architect working at Nongken Industry Corporation in Guangdong Province, was arrested on November 20, 2002. She was kept in a detention center. After her pregnancy was confirmed, instead of releasing her, officials sent her to a brainwashing center, where she died several days later on December 4.

Many pedestrians stopped by to watch or came up for more information. A photographer working for a news media took many pictures. He took some materials and said Western media should not ignore such a severe human rights violation.

Chinese Learn the Facts

Chinese students and tourists found the event of particular interest. One Chinese man who had come from China recently said he was looking for a way to break through the Internet blockade to access uncensored information when he returned to China.

Chinese students and tourists learning about Falun Gong and the persecution

Students and tourists were also shocked by the brutality of the persecution. After practitioners explained the importance of quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations, about 90 Chinese quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

Similar events were also held in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, on July 18 and 19. In the evening on July 20, a candlelight vigil was held in front on the Chinese Consulate to mourn those practitioners who have died as a result of the persecution and called for help to end it.

Rally in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, on July 18 and 19, calling for an end to the persecution

Candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate in the evening on July 20, 2014. Practitioners held photos of those who died as a result of the persecution.