(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters held a rally in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on July 20, 2025, to call for an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 26-year-long persecution of Falun Dafa.

They also commemorated the practitioners who have died in the persecution in China and protested the CCP’s human rights abuses. Aaron Bashir, President of the American Real Voice PAC, joined the rally to show his support.

The rally focused on the CCP’s relentless persecution, including its state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting and its transnational repression of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States. Two practitioners spoke about their personal experiences of being persecuted in China to highlight the CCP’s atrocities. Supporters called for an end to the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong and its crimes of harvesting practitioners’ organs while they are still alive. Fifty-one Chinese people quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations during the rally.

Practitioners held a rally in Philadelphia’s Chinatown and were joined by Aaron Bashir (sixth from the left), President of the American Real Voice PAC.

Practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on July 20.

Practitioners distributed flyers, talked to passersby, and collected signatures on a petition calling for an end to the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong.

Practitioners Talk about Being Persecuted

Ms. Shen started practicing Falun Gong in 1995. She said that Falun Gong healed her chronic ailments, including rheumatoid arthritis and neurosis. However, she was illegally detained for a total of 13 years between 1999 and 2017, because she refused to give up her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Shen recalled, “I was arrested at least nine times and illegally detained. My house was searched, and I was fired by my job several times.” She said that the labor she was forced to do in the detention center included sewing clothes and making Christmas lights for export. She had to work from 4 a.m. to midnight, and if she didn't finish her quota, she was beaten and shocked with electric batons. She developed heart failure and became extremely weak. “I was so emaciated that I looked like a bag of bones, and I was so weak that I could barely walk,” she said.

Ms. Yang, who is 78 this year, started cultivating Falun Dafa in 1993. She was imprisoned twice for a total of four years. She was deprived of sleep for 32 days in a row during her imprisonment, causing her to faint.

Ms. Yang was forced to flee China and has lived in the United States for eight years. She is not able to return to China, because the police will harass her family and relatives. She condemned the CCP’s transnational repression and thanked the United States for giving her freedom.

Supporters Call For Justice

Mr. Aaron Bashir spoke at the rally in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on July 20.

Aaron Bashir, president of the American Real Voice PAC, delivered a speech at the rally, saying that he stands alongside Falun Gong practitioners, who are being persecuted.

“Many people turn a blind eye to this matter [the CCP’s atrocities],” he said. “I come here to show my support for the Falun Gong practitioners. I want to speak up for them because Jesus taught me to love other people.”

Mr. Bashir praised practitioners’ determination to persist in their peaceful protests for the past 26 years and also stressed the universal right to religious freedom.

“Everyone is created in God’s image. They have free will to choose and believe,” he said. “The government should not interfere with people’s personal beliefs.”

As an American, Mr. Bashir is proud that the American Constitution protects freedom of speech and religion.

With regard to the CCP’s transnational repression of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States, Mr. Bashir criticized some American media outlets for echoing the CCP’s lies and slandering Falun Gong.

“In actual fact, Falun Gong practitioners are currently being persecuted, tortured, and having their organs harvested while they are still alive, and this has been happening for the past few decades,” he said.

He urged Western media not to copy the CCP’s slander and to conduct independent investigations. “The media needs to do their own, independent checks on these groups, check out the truth, and interview those people who have been affected and are truly being persecuted. That is how you will know the truth,” he said.

Mr. Bashir called for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to follow the lead of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a Falun Gong Protection Act (now pending in the Senate) and Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act to push for state-level legislation to curb the CCP’s crimes.

“The state government should pass a resolution condemning the CCP’s human rights atrocities and ensure that Chinese Americans here are protected from the CCP’s transnational repression. We cannot allow the CCP’s intimidation and disinformation tactics to take root in our state,” he said.

He said the Falun Gong rally was very meaningful and raised public awareness. “This is a way to let people know about things happening in the world that they do not know about,” he said. He encouraged the practitioners to keep holding such events to highlight global human rights issues.

Mr. Bashir called for everyone in the world to take action: “Please help Falun Gong practitioners. They are your brothers and sisters. We are a big humankind family … we should speak out for them and ensure that our voices are being heard loud and clear all over the world.”

Passersby Support Falun Gong

Passersby who paused to learn more showed their support for Falun Gong practitioners.

Alexis Sleggs, a university student from New York

Alexis Sleggs, a psychology major at a New York university, heard about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa for the first time during the practitioners’ activities. “Learning about problems all over the world makes us think more about how it affects other people,” she said.

She said that the forced organ harvesting left her “appalled—it is frightening.” She plans to discuss this at her university and drive change through political action.

Medical researcher Ehab Aiqtam

Ehab Aiqtam, a medical researcher from Yemen, said the persecution was horrible. As someone in the medical field, he was dismayed to learn of the CCP’s forced organ harvesting. “You cannot state a price for somebody’s organs, nor can you take a convict’s organs without their consent,” he said.

Mr. Aiqtam plans to share information about the CCP’s forced organ harvesting with his colleagues and call for the United Nations to intervene and resolve this crisis.

College student from Philadelphia Alex Parada

Alex Parada, a college student from Philadelphia, already knew about the CCP’s criminal acts and said the CCP was “one of the world’s most evil and most despicable regimes.”

He condemned the CCP’s live organ harvesting and transnational repression and called on people to raise awareness in Chinatown and directly contact elected officials.

“I really want to cooperate with people around the world to spread the understanding about this autocratic, evil regime,” he said.

Mr. Parada said he would cooperate with others to support Falun Gong practitioners.