(Minghui.org) Practitioners participated in the 35^th Hyde Park Festival, where they told people about Falun Dafa and the ongoing persecution in China. The event was held in Hyde Park, an inner-city park in Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, March 5 - 6, 2023. They demonstrated the exercises and played the waist drums on stage. They also did the Dragon Dance, which attracted many festival goers. Many people said they were interested in learning to practice Falun Dafa. 

The Rotary Club of North Perth hosted this annual event. There were close to 200 tables and booths, plus food trucks, games, and various entertainments. 

Practitioners participated in the Hyde Park Festival, March 5 – 6, 2023.

Practitioners demonstrated the exercises at their booth.

Practitioners demonstrated the exercises and told people about the 23-year-long persecution of Falun Dafa in China. The smooth and graceful exercise movements and soothing music drew many people to their booth. After learning about the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa in China, people signed the petition demanding the Chinese government end the human rights violations. A woman asked her husband to sign after she did. She told practitioners, “You need to tell people what happened.” Another person told practitioners, “What Falun Dafa practitioners in China are going through is terrifying. It’s good that you are here to tell people the true situation. We are lucky to be living in Australia.” 

The practitioners went onstage to perform the Waist Drum Dance and Dragon Dance. Through the performance they sent blessings and delivered festive joy to the audience. They also demonstrated the five sets of Falun Dafa exercises onstage. 

Practitioners perform Waist Drum Dance onstage.

Practitioners perform the Dragon Dance.

Practitioners were also invited to demonstrate the five exercises onstage.

After watching the practitioners demonstrate the exercises Maria Knight said, “I felt wonderful and relaxed. I really like the exercises, as I can feel positive energy.”

Nothing Wrong to Practice Falun Dafa

“I heard about Falun Dafa years ago,” David Odoj said. His father saw on the Internet what happens to practitioners in China and told him about it. David continued, “The practitioners have the right to their belief, there is nothing wrong with practicing Falun Dafa. The Chinese Communist Party wants to suppress everything. People are not allowed to do what it doesn’t want. We are lucky to live in Australia.” 

David Odoj (left) supports the right to practice Falun Dafa. 

Wonderful Energy 

Paisley Madison said she can feel Falun Dafa’s “wonderful energy.”

Paisley Madison has been to China and used to practice Tai Chi. “I stopped in front of the Falun Dafa booth because the practitioners seemed very friendly, and I could feel the wonderful energy of Falun Dafa. This energy made me feel relaxed. It attracts me like a magnet. I used to see many Falun Dafa practitioners in the park and by the ocean. It always drew my attention.” 

After learning that thousands of practitioners were persecuted and even killed for their organs, Shayley Andrew was shocked. She said, “I read about Falun Dafa on social media, and looked up the information.”

“My doctor told me that I have hypertension and that I need to meditate and relax.” She said she was interested in learning more about Falun Dafa.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology, and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.