(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held activities on Santa Monica State Beach July 15, 2018, to raise awareness of the 19-year persecution of the meditation practice in China. Practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises, displayed banners introducing the meditation system, and gave speeches calling for an end to the persecution in China.

Passerby Fereshteh from nearby Orange County came to the beach with three friends. After hearing of how Falun Gong practitioners in China face detention and torture for their belief, all of them signed petitions condemning the persecution.

“I never knew about this meditation practice. But the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance sound good to me. The peaceful movements are also impressive,” said Fereshteh, “I hope my signature can help stop the persecution.”

Group exercises and rally by Falun Gong practitioners at Santa Monica State Beach

“Something We All Embrace”

Thanh Le, a representative of Falun Gong, spoke at the rally and described how Falun Gong improves people’s health and well-being. He also explained how former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin banned the group and launched a violent suppression campaign out of jealousy after seeing the large number of people practicing. Le called on the public to support practitioners and bring this atrocity to an end.

Dana Churchill, spokesperson for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), speaks at the rally.

Dana Churchill, spokesperson for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), discussed the Chinese regime’s state-sanctioned killing of practitioners for their organs and its implications on medical ethics. He said a lot of evidence has confirmed these abuses and urged the public to help stop this crime against humanity.

Churchill said that transplant centers in China have an annual revenue of billions of dollars every year. “I do not know how they can repay the karma accumulated because of greed. While conducting these ill-minded surgeries, have they thought about their future or the [karmic] retribution from participating in it?”

Liu Yinquan, President of the China Social Democratic Party, said Jiang Zemin and the totalitarian communist regime has led to moral decay and associated social issues in China. He said many people are now clear of the vicious nature of communism and added, “I also sincerely thank and admire efforts from Falun Gong practitioners these years. The principles of the practice, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, are important for everyone, and they are something we all embrace.”

Helen Li from the Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party in Los Angeles said that the Communist Party not only suppresses Falun Gong with violence and propaganda inside China but also extends the persecution overseas through its embassies and consulates. She encouraged Chinese citizens to renounce their membership in Party organizations and join the over 310 million who have already done so on the Epoch Times newspaper website.

Rescuing Detained Practitioners

Ms. Zhou Zi, a former English teacher at a technical school in Beijing, was a victim of the persecution in China along with her family members.

Ms. Zhou Zi, a former English teacher at a technical school in Beijing, talked about her arrest and detention at the age of 23 and release from prison at the age of 32. “The police officers did not allow me to sleep for nine consecutive days. Even after the tenth day, I was permitted to sleep only one hour a day. More than 20 days passed and I had auditory hallucinations. Later, I needed support from others when walking; otherwise, I would fall and lose consciousness.”

Ms. Zhou's family has suffered tremendously in the 19 years since the persecution began. “My father's job and pension were stopped for 10 years. After my father was arrested numerous times, my parents were forced to leave home. Out of depression and anger, my mother gradually lost her eyesight,” she explained.

Three practitioners called for the release of their detained family members in China.

Many tourists stopped to read the posters and signed petitions in support of practitioners. Two Chinese–a tour guide and a tour bus driver–watched the group meditation and talked with a practitioner. After hearing the brutality committed by the Chinese regime, one of them said he would quit the Young Pioneers (a youth branch of the Chinese Communist Party), and the other said he had quit the Party several years earlier.

Passersby learn about Falun Gong at the beach.

The group exercises attracted attention from pedestrians and tourists, and many of them took pictures. One woman watched for a while and said to a practitioner with a smile, “The music is so serene as if it’s from heaven.”