(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in San Francisco held a group exercise session and a photo exhibition in front of City Hall on May 3, 2022. Many people watched the slow, gentle exercise movements, took photos, and learned about Falun Dafa. Some learned the exercises on the spot.

Practitioners did the exercises in front of San Francisco’s City Hall.

Passersby stop to take photos of the exercises.

The photo exhibition illustrated the journey of Falun Dafa’s introduction by Master Li Hongzhi in 1992, how it benefits people’s health and morality, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brutal persecution, and how practitioners have peacefully opposed the persecution.

Passersby learn about Falun Dafa.

Luis, who works in a nearby office building, asked a practitioner about the exercises. He was happy to learn that Falun Dafa was an ancient cultivation practice following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Luis took out his cell phone and recorded the exercises while praising the beauty of the practice. He told the practitioner that he heard about the CCP’s crime of organ harvesting, but didn’t know what Falun Dafa was. He thanked the practitioner for sharing the information.

Ben learns the first exercise.

Ben from Connecticut was amazed by how well practitioners could concentrate despite all the noise on the street. He wanted to try it, and learned the first exercise on the spot.

Mohammed, a local resident, waved at the practitioners. He said that he had heard about Falun Dafa and the CCP’s crimes. He knew that the CCP won’t allow freedom of belief, and that was why it treated practitioners so cruelly. With his hand on his chest, Mohammed said, “Bless your heart! Thank you for your hard work!”

Background: What is Falun Dafa?

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 learned the five gentle exercises, have experienced uplifted 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, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More 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 the organ transplant industry.

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.