(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on July 18 to commemorate their fellow practitioners who died as a result of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 22-year-long persecution. They also called on people to help end the persecution and to rescue those still imprisoned.

Practitioners held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on July 18.

Director of Southwestern Falun Dafa Association: Safeguarding Conscience

Youfu Li, director of the Southwestern Falun Dafa Association, said, “It has been 22 years since the former CCP head Jiang Zemin initiated the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners.” “In the long and cruel persecution, Falun Dafa practitioners remain steadfast in their belief.”

Youfu Li, director of the Southwestern Falun Dafa Association

He said that facing the CCP’s torture and slander, Falun Dafa practitioners have remained peaceful and rational. The practitioners’ peaceful protests have won support from people around the world. On the other hand, “the perpetrators maintain the Party for their own protection. But they don’t know that their days are numbered.”

Li called on the world’s people to, “Safeguard your conscience, stay away from the CCP, and quit the CCP organizations.”

Practitioner Spokesperson: Despite the Brutality Practitioners Continue To Peacefully Protest the Persecution

Prof. Yingnian Wu, spokesperson for Falun Dafa practitioners in Los Angeles, said that the CCP utilized all it’s state machines and launched the persecution in 1999.

Prof. Yingnian Wu

According to the latest statistics from Minghui.org, at least 4,677 Falun Dafa practitioners are confirmed to have died as a direct result of the persecution. The actual number could be much higher due to the CCP’s information censorship. Countless practitioners were sentenced to jail, tortured, or even subjected to forced organ harvesting. Many were forced to stay away from home.

Prof. Yingnian Wu pointed out that facing the CCP’s brutal persecution, practitioners continue to peacefully expose these crimes. To maintain the persecution, the CCP fabricated various lies, including the CCP-staged Tiananmen self-immolation incident to instigate hatred and slander against Falun Dafa.

He said, “After 22 years people can tell that Falun Dafa is very different from the way the CCP describes it. Practitioners are peaceful and rational.”

Persecution Survivor Recounts Her Personal Experience

Haili Zhao was born in the 1980s. In 2008 when she was attending a university in Shanghai, she started to practice Falun Dafa. She subsequently became optimistic and cheerful, and full of sunshine and hope. The nasal polyps that plagued her for years disappeared.

Simply because she practiced Falun Dafa, she was sentenced to prison and tortured by the CCP. In November 2012, she was arrested and then detained in the Shanghai Detention Center. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. In order to force her to give up her belief, the guards tied her to a bed and inserted a thick tube into her nostril to forcibly feed her.

She said, “My face was covered with blood.” On July 31, 2013, she was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. On September 5 of the same year, she was escorted to Shanghai Women’s Prison. In prison, she suffered mental and physical torture, including being forced to copy the prison regulations, view videos that slandered Falun Dafa for long periods of time, and perform slave labor.

She said that now she is fortunate to finally live in the land of freedom. She was sad as she lifted the candle and said, “I’m just one of the countless victims. The persecution is still going on.”

She pointed out, “The CCP will eventually be brought to justice for its crimes against humanity. I hope that those people who have been deceived by the CCP’s lies will understand that the CCP is not China and they will not become the CCP’s scapegoat.”

Calling to Rescue Practitioners Imprisoned in China

Holding display boards, practitioners call for the release of Falun Dafa practitioners still imprisoned in China.

During the rally practitioners held display panels with names of their practitioner relatives, friends, or hometown countrymen in China who are still illegally detained and persecuted. They called for their immediate release. They also called for an end to the persecution and to bring the former CCP head who initiated the persecution to justice.

At least 12,761 practitioners were arrested, seized, and harassed by the CCP in the first six months of 2021. Sixty-three practitioners were persecuted to death.

Practitioners advise those police, prosecutors, and court staffers in China who are still helping the CCP to persecute practitioners, to immediately stop the persecution, atone for their actions, and make the right choice for their future.