(Minghui.org) Over 200 Falun Gong practitioners held a rally in Santa Monica, California on July 17, 2016 marking 17 years of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Santa Monica is a well-known tourist destination west of Los Angeles.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated the brutal persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. The then CCP head Jiang Zemin ordered the state-sanctioned persecution of innocent Falun Gong practitioners. The 17-year-long persecution has led to many deaths and countless imprisonments. Facing the brutality, Falun Gong practitioners throughout the world have conducted peaceful protests calling for an immediate end to the persecution.
Practitioners hold banners along Santa Monica beach to raise awareness of the persecution.
Rally in Santa Monica.
Reenactment of the CCP's live organ harvesting.
Tourists reading posters.
A practitioner informs people about the CCP's live organ harvesting crimes.
Tourists sign petition against live organ harvesting.
Falun Gong Spokesperson Prof. Wu Yingnian.
Falun Gong spokesman Prof. Wu Yingnian spoke at the rally. “Because of practitioners’ efforts in raising awareness of the persecution, we have gained much more support,” he said. He mentioned that the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Res. 343 urging the CCP regime to stop the forced live organ harvesting from Falun Gong and others prisoners of conscience. Similar resolutions were also passed in European Parliament.
Head Nurse: I Underwent Procedures of Organ Donor Preparation While Imprisoned
Ms. Gao, a head nurse from China, was arrested for the fourth time in 2001 and detained in Dalian City Detention Center. She almost became a victim of the CCP's live organ harvesting. She recalled, “I forcibly had my blood drawn and checked by X-ray imaging. I experienced each procedure for donor preparation of live organ harvesting. But I escaped the cruelty as I had organ failure.”
She did not disclose her name and working unit when being arrested. For this, she was targeted as a non-consenting donor for forced live organ harvesting.
Director of Conscience Foundation: China's Organ Transplantation System Is Evidence of Live Organ Harvesting
Director Chen Shizhong of Conscience Foundation said, “There is a waiting list for organ transplantation in any country. For example, the waiting time could be several years in the U.S. But in China, they only need two weeks. There is no patient database, but a donor database. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated are forced to have a blood tests.”
He pointed added, “What is the donor database for? It is used to search for a matching organ when a patient needs a transplant. Whoever matches, this prisoner of conscience is killed. This is murderous organ transplantation based on demand.”
Support for Falun Gong
Head of China Social Democratic Party Liu Yinquan speaks at the rally.
Liu Yinquan, Head of China Social Democratic Party, and Jan Eastgate, Chair of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), spoke at the rally.
Liu said that the CCP committed crimes against humanity. The whole world should be united to investigate the CCP's crimes.
Chair Jan Eastgate of the CCHR speaks at the rally.
Chair Jan Eastgate of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) said at the rally that in the former Soviet Union and Nazi's Germany, minorities and dissidents were tortured in psychiatric facilities without legal procedure. They were shocked with electric batons or subjected to various experiments. Currently such treatments are applied to Falun Gong practitioners in China. The CCHR keeps track of the CCP's acts and places the persecution of Falun Gong in the CCHR’s records.
She said, “The German Psychiatric Association admitted to these crimes during World War II in 2010. The Chinese equivalent needs to admit their crimes too and take action to stop it.”
Mario Velasquez-Rivera said he appreciates Falun Gong practitioners' efforts to raise awareness.
Mario Velasquez-Rivera, a tourist, took videos of the rally with his smart phone. He said, “I appreciate Falun Gong practitioners holding such an event to let people know what is happening in China.”
Mario immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala, where four-year-old son was once almost kidnapped by gangsters who let it be known that the attempted kidnapping was for organ harvesting. When he learned about China's state-sanctioned live organ harvesting, he was appalled and said it must be stopped.
Category: July 20 Events
