On 10 July 2004, Falun Dafa practitioners in Queensland, Australia held a large-scale
anti-torture exhibition to further expose the brutal persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners in China to the public. The torture scenes were so true-to-life
that they shocked many people who stopped to take a look at the exhibition, including
many tourists and students from Mainland China. People’s faces showed a mixture
of emotions-shock, being overwhelmed, sadness, sympathy towards the victims and
anger with the perpetrators.
On one side of the square was the torture exhibition;
on the other side of the square a group of practitioners peacefully performed
the exercises. The many photo drops of the practice and events from around the
world clearly demonstrated to people the absurdity and evilness of this persecution.
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Torture exhibits | |
All the practitioners who
took part in the exhibition, along with those who were handing out literature,
maintained a strong righteous field throughout the day. An incredible number of
people came through the square during the day and in just a few hours, we had
handed out every copy of the special flyer we printed, which highlighted the shooting
of Australian practitioner David Liang in South Africa. Several thousand flyers
were handed out during the day.
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Many people view exhibition Shooting incident in South Africa | ||
Although
it rained several times, this did not deter either the practitioners or the large
crowds of people. It was as though an invisible force was pulling people to the
square to witness this exhibition and learn about the brutal and unrelenting persecution
of Dafa practitioners in China.
What was most striking was the mood of the
people viewing our exhibition. The solemnity of the event clearly had an impact
on everyone who passed by. People slowly went through the exhibition, carefully
reading all the boards explaining what they were viewing. There was very little
talking except for the questions they asked and comments they made to practitioners.
One
man, after watching the exhibition, said, “This is very powerful. I knew
little about what is happening in China until now. To think that people are being
tortured this way, at this very moment, is shocking. It makes one feel that one
wants to know more about the persecution and do something about it.”
There
were two little homeless girls about 12 or 13 years old. Their clothes were dirty
and their faces and hands unwashed. They had nothing but a small bag and a little
black dog to keep them company. After they looked at the exhibition, they kept
asking a practitioner, “What can we do to help? We want to help those people
who are being tortured.” When they saw the petition letter, they immediately
wrote their names down with great care and solemnity. Yet, they still did not
want to go and asked again, “Please tell us what else can we do to help,
we want to help those people in China.” It was really touching to see these
two little girls, who were suffering themselves, still want to help others. We
told them they have already helped a lot by showing their support, and we also
told them about the local practice site. They were very happy because the park
happens to be the one where they sleep in the evening. They said they would certainly
go to learn Falun Gong exercises.
A man who worked for Amnesty International
stopped for a long time, reading all the information. He said that even he didn’t
realize the extent of the torture and persecution taking place.
Another
gentleman said, “I’ve just looked at the anti-torture exhibition in front
of Town Hall, and I was totally disgusted. The torture is terrible, truly terrible.
It must be stopped.”
There was another young man who told us his name
was Michael. He was on his way to the city centre to buy some music CDs and to
have a drink afterwards, and was looking forward to a pleasant day. However, when
he viewed the torture exhibition, his heart became very heavy. He said to a practitioner,
“This exhibition is making an impact. You need to emphasise the reality,
and you did it really well. You need to let people know just how deep and dark
the persecution is. If it had not been for the shocking torture scenes, I might
have just walked past. My heart became really heavy and it made me think deeply
about issues I might not think about otherwise. I may feel heavy for the rest
of the day, which I don’t really want, but I would rather feel heavy and sign
your petition than remain ignorant!”
A mother and her daughter were
very sad to see the exhibition, but they could not understand why Falun Gong practitioners
still stick to their beliefs when facing such inhumane torture. After a practitioner
explained to them the principles of “Truth-Compassion-Forbearance” and
the great physical and mental benefits of the practice people experience, as well
as the importance of upholding these principles for the benefit of all humanity,
they said with great admiration, “Now we understand. Those Falun Gong people
in China are so noble. We’ll pray for them, and may God bless them.”
Although
this exhibition had been fully approved by the Town Hall management, the manager
who was supposed to be on duty that day couldn’t make it at the last minute, and
the manager taking her place hadn’t been fully briefed on the exhibition. He was
concerned that there would be a number of complaints from passers-by. But when
a practitioner went back in the afternoon to make sure everything was okay, the
manager said that there hadn’t been a single complaint from the public. Not only
that, but he had never seen so many people on King George Square on a Saturday,
particularly late in the afternoon.
People are awakening!
Posting
date: 30/Jul/2004
Original article date: 17/Jul/2004
Category: Australian
News
