(Minghui.org) Adelaide City Councilor Jane Bange was cycling in the city over the weekend when she ran into Falun Gong practitioners’ activities to commemorate the April 25 appeal.

The familiar sight of Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises and introducing the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance has won praise and admiration from Australians. Similar activities can be seen all over the world, yet the practice has been persecuted in China for 27 years.

To mark that anniversary, practitioners in South Australia held activities on North Terrace in downtown Adelaide on April 5 and 19, 2026. They hope that sometime soon practitioners in China can exercise their right to freedom of belief.

“I recognized you straightaway,” said Councilor Bange. “I’ve been to Taiwan five times and have seen large-scale Falun Gong activities at the National Palace Museum and other places. They were very eye-catching, excellent. I saw many [practitioners] sitting and meditating quietly.

“I was glad to see the government in Taiwan did not interfere and allows them to practice, because it is a democratic country. I think it is important that leaders uphold democracy and freedom of speech. People should be allowed to peacefully do what they want as long as they don’t harm others. Besides, by not submitting to a foreign government, people have the assurance that they can practice their belief and live freely.”

Adelaide City Councilor Jane Bange, a member of Amnesty International, was delighted to run into the practitioners’ event.

“I am aware they believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I cannot understand the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) suppression of such a group of people,” Bange said.

“It is great that you are doing this today. It helps people see with their own eyes what Falun Gong is, not just relying on others to tell them. It is wonderful.”

She was pleased to accept an origami lotus flower a practitioner gave her and thanked her. She said it was important to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Passersby also told practitioners that they admired the courage and spirit of Falun Gong practitioners in the peaceful appeal for upholding their faith.

Several Chinese quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations during the activities.

Practitioners in South Australia gathered in Adelaide on April 5 and 19, 2026, to do the exercises and commemorate the 27th anniversary of the April 25 appeal.

The April 25 Appeal: A Display of Great Compassion and Endurance

On April 25, 1999, more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to the National Appeals Office in Beijing to ask the authorities to release over 40 practitioners who’d been arrested in Tianjin. Practitioner Ms. Zhang said that her father in Tianjin was an eyewitness to the arrests. He saw the Tianjin police beat innocent people brutally and was touched by the calm, compassion, and endurance the Falun Gong practitioners displayed.

She recalled: “I was studying in another city back then. My parents said they saw a report vilifying Falun Gong published in a youth magazine put out by the Tianjin Education Institute. When they heard about it, practitioners went to the publication’s office to tell people how they had benefited by practicing Dafa. The office staff were moved. Even though many practitioners showed up, everyone was peaceful and orderly.

“Later on, riot police showed up and used violence to disperse them. In the end, more than 40 practitioners were arrested. When other practitioners went to the Tianjin City government to ask for their release, they were told to go to Beijing to resolve the matter. Many practitioners thus went to Beijing,” explained Ms. Zhang.

Ms. Wang said she was in Australia on April 25, 1999. “When we heard that people had been arrested in Tianjin, we wrote a letter at once and drove overnight to practitioners’ homes to get them to sign it. We then faxed the letter to the Chinese Embassy in Australia, asking for the facts.

“The self-discipline demonstrated by the 10,000 practitioners who then gathered was called the largest, most peaceful appeal in the history of China. However, the CCP misrepresented the appeal as ‘besieging the CCP headquarters,’ and three months later used this as an excuse to begin the persecution of Falun Gong.

“Since then, practitioners outside of China have held peaceful protests against the suppression.”

Passersby express support for practitioners’ efforts to protest the persecution.

Peaceful Appeal Is a Form of Fearlessness

Kitie Ciui and Joe Musarewla were drawn to the tranquil scene of practitioners doing the exercises together. The image of display of practitioners being beaten by the CCP police appalled them. They asked about it with concern and were told about the April 25 appeal and that practitioners were calling for an end to the persecution.

Ciui said, “Everyone should have the right to uphold their belief and clarify the facts. They should not be persecuted for daring to speak out. [The peaceful appeal] was a form of fearlessness, a courage to speak out, act.”

Joe Musarewla (left) and Kitie Ciui were shocked to hear about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

When Kitie Ciui learned about the CCP’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting from practitioners, she said with tears in her eyes: “This is so sad. This evil act must stop.” She signed an international petition to stop the cruelty.

Musarewla also signed the petition. He said he had seen practitioners at this location two years ago and felt he should stop today to support the protest. “I always pay attention to what’s happening in the world. Some unjust and terrible things are happening. I hope all will change. I hope more people can be peaceful like this group of people in front of us, getting along with one another.

“It is great that you are able to come here. Please keep on doing this.”

Rhonda, a tourist, said she felt a sense of calm and peace.

Rhonda, who is retired, was traveling around Australia. She was drawn to the bright colors and peaceful scene of practitioners doing the exercises. She said, “You can feel a sense of calm, their exercises are so gentle.”

She said the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance advocated by Falun Gong are “absolutely necessary.

“I think, as far as the state the world is in now, we are not tolerant of one another. We are all different, we must accept this. We should respect each another, I think this is what every one of us can do,” she said.

She found it hard to accept the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong that is taking place in China. “This is absolutely wrong. We are all equal, we should be treated with kindness.”

It Is Legal to Appeal and Fight for Your Rights

The activities that day caught the attention of several passing by Chinese people as well. A couple from Sichuan Province took informational materials and chose to quit the CCP after learning more about the persecution and Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhang, a tourist from Japan, spoke to practitioners for a long time. He said, “It is legal to appeal and fight for your rights. The CCP stops people from having a belief so as to brainwash and control them. Now, many Chinese accept the regime’s brainwashing, they don’t seek the truth. But there are some netizens who dare to leave comments ridiculing social media posts that glorify the CCP.”

Mr. Zhang said he, too, was suppressed by the police in China and had no means to seek redress, so he chose to leave the country. He learned a lot of the truth after he left and said he hopes heaven will eliminate the CCP and justice will come soon.

“I love photography. I hope to show beauty and to discover truth and kindness,” he said.

He was delighted to meet Falun Gong practitioners that day and agreed to renounce his membership in the CCP.