A Large Gathering of Falun Gong Followers in Toronto Denounce 25 Years of CCP Oppression
Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners gathered at the Ontario legislature on April 20 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of China’s crackdown on a peaceful protest in Beijing in 1999. This protest was a significant event leading up to a major human rights crisis.
The adherents of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, became victims of a misinformation and defamation campaign orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the late 1990s. It is widely believed that the campaign was initiated by then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin out of fear that there were more Falun Gong practitioners than Party members and due to a perceived conflict between Falun Gong’s moral values and communist ideology.
10,000 adherents
gathered at the Beijing National Appeals Office to demand their constitutional right to freedom of belief. However, the CCP escalated its persecution and launched a nationwide crackdown on Falun Gong three months later in July.
worldwide
have condemned the CCP’s brutal tactics against Falun Gong prisoners, including torture, sexual abuse, and organ harvesting. Canadian human rights lawyer
David Matas
has described the persecution of Falun Gong as a long-lasting “cold genocide.”
Jose Peralta, a Canadian immigrant from Argentina, expressed disbelief at the events of April 25, 1999, emphasizing that Falun Gong practitioners only sought peace and personal improvement, unharassed by persecution. He praised the peaceful and respectful nature of the practitioners’ protest.
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Mr. Stainton, president of the Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada, lauded Falun Gong practitioners for their steadfastness in peacefully opposing the CCP’s tyranny, understanding its impact on both practitioners and the broader Chinese society.
