(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in Greater Philadelphia held a rally in Chinatown on September 19, 2026, to mark the 466 million people who have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Philadelphia City Council issued citations to commend those who have withdrawn and to commend practitioners’ efforts. Many passersby paused to listen to the speeches at the rally, and they signed the petition for US Senate Bill S.4009: the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act. Thirty-six Chinese people quit the CCP organizations during the rally.
Practitioners hold a banner at the rally in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on September 19, 2026. (Minghui.org)
Passersby sign the petition to end the persecution. (Minghui.org)
Citations From Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Philadelphia City Council
The Pennsylvania State House of Representatives issued a citation that was initiated by Representative Mary Isaacson to honor those who have withdrawn from the CCP.
Citation from Pennsylvania State House of Representatives (Minghui.org)
The citation reads, “The Tuidang Movement (Quitting the Chinese Communist Party) will hold a peaceful rally honoring those brave men and women in advancing peaceful change in China and improving the security of the entire world.” “For more than 70 years, the Chinese Communist Party has subjected the Chinese people to political persecution and deprived them of fundamental human rights and spiritual traditions. Victims include Tiananmen Square demonstrators, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners.”
Citation from the Philadelphia City Council. (Minghui.org)
The Philadelphia City Council issued a citation initiated by Councilman Mark Squilla supporting the Quit the CCP global movement and honoring millions of courageous Chinese people who, according to the citation, are advancing peaceful change in China and contributing to greater security throughout the world.
“Over the past 22 years, millions of Chinese people around the world have stood up to say ‘No’ to the CCP, fostering an unprecedented, peaceful movement for transformation and change in China,” the citation stated.
The citation said the movement had offered the international community “a renewed vision of a world free from communism through peaceful action.”
Immigration Lawyer Commends the Movement
“I applaud, and I celebrate, those who are rejecting a party that has stood for repression, oppression, and suppression,” Christine Flowers, a Philadelphia immigration lawyer and syndicated columnist, said at the rally in Chinatown. “The Party that carried out the massacre at Tiananmen Square, the Party that imprisoned political dissidents, the Party that has brought nothing but pain to a magnificent people, and history.”
Christine Flowers, a Philadelphia immigration lawyer and syndicated columnist, at the rally in Philadelphia on September 19, 2026. (Minghui.org)
Flowers told the crowd that her work with asylum seekers has shown her how authoritarian governments can restrict faith, expression, and independent thought. She has practiced immigration law for nearly three decades and has concentrated on asylum cases for about 20 years.
“While the politics of these governments differ in some ways, there is a common thread: dehumanize the citizens, brutalize them into submission, strip them of their individual identities, their ability to practice their faith, to think freely, to express their views in the public square, to publish their opinions without being jailed, and to simply live their lives according to their consciences.” “This is the hallmark of the totalitarian regime, and this is the core principle of communist China,” she said.
The withdrawal movement started after The Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in 2004 as a peaceful campaign based on individual declarations of withdrawal.
“It is powerful when people who have been raised in a totalitarian regime with no other options have the courage to dig down into their souls and say, ‘I can’t support this any longer,’ and they walk away,” Flowers said in an interview after her speech.
She said Chinese people who reject the CCP have endured generations of dehumanization. “For them to stand up and have the courage to say no more—it’s powerful,” she said.
“And it’s a message for those of us who have not grown up in that kind of an environment, and it tells us that we too can push back if we find that there are things that our own government is doing that we don’t support.”
Flowers urged US leaders to raise human rights concerns when they deal with Beijing, including the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners, Christians, political dissidents, and students.
“Trying to create ‘free market’ ties with a country that does not comprehend the meaning of the word free is farcical,” she added.
For Flowers, the public declarations represented both a message to China’s leaders and a lesson for people in democratic societies. “People who are here today, standing up for human rights, give me hope that the work that I’m doing actually will make a difference,” she said.
Calling to Safeguard Human Rights
Dr. Mark Thomas, an assistant professor and coordinator in the Department of Political Science and Economics at La Salle University, submitted a statement to support the rally.
“We, as Americans, are in a country which is a light on a hill,” Thomas wrote. “We owe it to ourselves and to the repressed peoples around the world not to put our light under a basket. We are the voice of the silenced.”
Thomas asked Americans to condemn the unjust imprisonment of those who want to express their conscience.
“Condemn the Chinese Communist Party for torturing and killing and maiming! Condemn the Chinese Communist Party for repressing believers, be they Muslims, Christians, Falun Dafa! But more than condemning quietly, call on Congress to sanction the CCP!”
Passersby Express Their Support
Viviana Takfoor is interviewed in Chinatown in Philadelphia on September 19. (Minghui.org)
The rally also drew passersby, including Viviana Takfoor, who left Venezuela with her family 25 years ago and now lives in Philadelphia. She linked the event to her experience of economic and political decline in her native country.
“It’s terrible. I am from Venezuela, so I understand what communism is,” Takfoor said.
She noticed the rally while walking with her daughter, and explained why she signed a petition that supports the Senate bill, “to be part of the ending of these suppressors of the world.”
Takfoor congratulated the 466 million Chinese who have withdrawn from the CCP. “Finally, they understood that that’s not a way of living, not a way of moving a country forward for their people and their own,” she said. “It’s fabulous. People need to wake up.”
Nancy Lee is interviewed in Chinatown in Philadelphia on September 19. (Minghui.org)
Nancy Lee, a sales associate at a major business at the King of Prussia Mall, also stopped at the event. She said reports of forced organ harvesting in China saddened her, and she urged people to share information about human rights abuses through social media.
“We’re supposed to be treating people like humans,” Lee said. “Taking away people’s organs should absolutely be illegal. It should be banned.”
She called the withdrawal campaign “a great movement” and said people around the world should learn about it and offer their support.
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Category: Rallies & Protests
