Millions of Falun Gong practitioners around the world will mark a historic day on 25 April commemorating the 13th anniversary of the largest public appeal since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

On 25 April 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered quietly in Beijing to ask for the release of fellow adherents who had been beaten and detained in a nearby city. More broadly, they sought to raise concerns with government leaders about ongoing harassment of Falun Gong at the hands of a few high-ranking officials.

The event captured headlines around the world. But more importantly to those who were there, it was a chance to explain to the Chinese leadership how Falun Gong had brought health and harmony to their lives and that the attacks by some Chinese officials were unwarranted.

Thirteen years later, Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters are honouring the spirit of peace, justice and compassion with which that appeal was held. They are remembering the tremendous price Falun Gong pracitioners and their families in China have paid for their unyielding dedication to their faith and its underlying principles of honesty, kindness and forbearance in the face of unrelenting brutality.

WHAT: Hundreds to attend: Candlelight Vigil at Belmore Park, Haymarket Banners of Remembrance along George Street, China Town
WHEN: Tuesday, 24 April 5.00pm - 8.30pm

For more information on the April 25th mass appeal in Beijing with interviews from some of the top leading China scholars, please visit the link below for part one of four of the new documentary A Decade Of Courage.

Article date:24/April/2012
Category: Media Release