(Minghui.org) During the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Falun Gong practitioners in New York City gathered at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on September 22 to peacefully protest the brutal persecution of their faith by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Organiser, one of the oldest weeklies in New Delhi, India, reported on the protest on September 23 and interviewed practitioners who had suffered persecution in China.
Report on Falun Gong practitioners’ peaceful protest in New York City by Organiser (Screenshot by Minghui.org)
Titled “China’s Falun Gong practitioners rally in New York against CCP’s persecution as world leaders gather for UNGA,” the report said the rally was held when the UN’s high-level debate opened on September 22. Practitioners “displayed banners calling for an end to the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong, including messages reading ‘Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong’ and ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance’. Others performed the practice’s slow and meditative exercises,” wrote the report.
Imprisoned for Eight Years
Ms. Liu, a practitioner at the event, shared her experience of being mistreated by the CCP for her faith. “Liu was living in Beijing when the campaign began in 1999. On December 1 that year, she travelled to appeal to Chinese authorities but was detained,” wrote the report.
“In 2001, Liu and 10 other Falun Gong practitioners were arrested during a gathering at a private residence. She was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison and was released in 2009, according to her account to media at the New York rally,” the report continued.
The persecution harmed not only Ms. Liu but also her family. “Liu was arrested again in 2016. Her mother became deeply worried about her daughter’s situation and, according to Liu, stopped taking proper care of herself. She died two months after Liu’s arrest,” the report explained.
Transnational Repression
The Organiser article also covered the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong outside China’s borders. “According to a recent survey by the [Falun Dafa Information Center], more than 600 incidents involving Falun Gong practitioners were documented across the United States over a five-year period beginning in 2020,” wrote the report.
“The centre has also pointed to U.S. federal prosecutions involving Chinese government agents. It says at least six agents of the Chinese government have been convicted in U.S. federal courts involving activities targeting Falun Gong practitioners, including incidents in New York,” the report added.
Raising Awareness
Falun Gong practitioners plan to remain at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza through Friday. “They have also organised a vehicle parade through Manhattan, with cars carrying messages calling for an end to the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong,” wrote the article.
“As the UN General Assembly continues its high-level meetings in New York, the practitioners say they intend to use the international gathering to keep attention focused on the China-based persecution that they say has shaped their lives for more than two decades,” the article concluded.
In contrast to India’s Organiser, numerous New York-based mainstream media outlets and news agencies have maintained a deafening silence regarding the persecution of Falun Gong—the largest human rights violation in modern China. They have neither repeated the lies and smear campaigns fed to them by the CCP nor reported on the activities organized by Falun Gong practitioners to demand an end to the CCP’s persecution during the UN General Assembly.
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