(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in San Francisco held a rally in front of the Chinese Consulate on August 7 to call on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to release the 26 Falun Gong practitioners arrested in Changchun, Jilin Province, in July 2026 and to end the persecution.
Practitioners rally at the Chinese Consulate on August 7, 2026, to ask for the release of the 26 practitioners arrested in Changchun. (Minghui.org)
Several practitioners who were persecuted in China recalled their experiences and called on the general public to pay attention to the persecution.
Ms. Wang Dafang said at the rally that she and many other practitioners could not calm down after hearing about what happened in Changchun, because those who were arrested are fellow practitioners, relatives or friends, all of whom follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to be better people.
“We are eyewitness to the persecution,” she said. Many practitioners who participated in the rally were illegally detained and tortured in China. Some lost relatives, while others were forced to stay away from home, so they know how forbidding the detention centers are and how cruelly those inside are tortured.
From a Reporter to a Victim
Ms. Wang said she was a reporter in China 27 years ago, and she also practiced Falun Gong. She thought that, if the central authorities knew the true situation, the government would realize the persecution of Falun Gong was wrong, so she went to Tiananmen Square, hoping to tell them about her faith.
But when she unfurled a banner, she was beaten and arrested, then taken to a police station and tortured. She said the police shocked her with several electric batons. Her body jerked on the ground as the electric current coursed through her, making her lose control of her bladder. She eventually passed out.
“To this day, I still cannot forget that agony,” she said. Yet, for her family, this was merely the beginning of their suffering.
Ms. Wang said that her older brother, Leo, was an outstanding engineer who held multiple patents for his inventions. Because he practiced Falun Gong, he was imprisoned for 12 years, tortured, and almost died several times.
Her younger sister, Wang Kefei, was a kind, beautiful, and responsible civil servant with a happy family and a bright future. She was held in the Heizuizi Women’s Forced Labor Camp in Jilin Province because she practiced Falun Gong.
To force her to give up her belief, the guards tied her to a death bed, deprived her of sleep, and tortured her. She was only 34 years old when she passed away due to the persecution. Her family was broken, and her young child was motherless.
Overwhelmed with grief and heartbroken after his daughter died and his son was imprisoned, Ms. Wang’s father soon passed away.
Ms. Wang said that they gathered in front of Chinese Consulate not to express their hate for anyone but to express their hope there would be no more victims and no more such tragedies. She called on everyone to pay attention to the plight of the Changchun practitioners and help stop the persecution.
The Persecution of an Elderly Practitioner
Ms. He reminded the gathering that the CCP has systematically persecuted Falun Gong practitioners for 27 years. Countless people who practice Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance have been arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and suffered other forms of persecution. She called on all of society to recognize the CCP’s true nature, and she urged the consulate staff to learn about the persecution and stay away from the CCP for a bright future.
She talked about her aunt, Chen Min, a 74-year-old practitioner who began practicing Falun Gong in 1995. Ms. He said that her aunt’s health improved after she began practicing Falun Gong and that she was kind and helpful.
Ms. Chen Min was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp for over two years because she went to Beijing in 2000 to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. Her husband lived in fear and worry while she was incarcerated. He passed away in 2003, and their daughter became homeless. The persecution destroyed their once-happy family.
Ms. Chen was in her 70s when she was taken away in 2024 for telling people how good Falun Gong is. She was detained in the Tawan Police Station in Shenyang and later sentenced to seven years and six months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan ($2,965).
Candidate for California Governor Calls for an End to the Persecution
Scott Shields, candidate for Governor of California, called on the CCP to immediately stop the 27-year persecution and release Falun Gong practitioners recently arrested, especially the elderly.
Scott Shields, candidate for Governor of California (Minghui.org)
Mr. Shields said that he has read about the persecution for the past eight years. He said that former CCP head Jiang Zemin put the persecution into motion 27 years ago and set up the 610 Office to coordinate it. The system was established to get around normal legal procedures and conduct a systematic persecution of Falun Gong.
He mentioned that the arrests in Changchun in July included practitioners in their 70s and 80s. He said that he spoke out for those who cannot, including the elderly practitioners who were recently arrested and detained in Changchun and hundreds of thousands of people who are persecuted for their belief.
He said that the US Congress, the European Parliament, and international human rights organizations should pay attention to and condemn the persecution. He paid particular attention to torture, arbitrary detention, and forced organ harvesting.
He put forward several requests: Stop the persecution of Falun Gong, release the elderly practitioners detained in Changchun, release all detained practitioners, and let their family members know where they are detained and what condition they are in.
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Category: Rallies & Protests
