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New York City, May 15, 2015 – Beginning at noon, a three hour splash of color will light up 42nd Street as almost 7,000 people celebrate World Falun Dafa Day in a parade stretching from 2nd to 11th Avenue. They will be joined by Tuidang participants who will hold a rally at Dag Hammarskjold Park at 47th Street and 1st Avenue at 10am.
The parade will be the culmination of a week of activities happening around the five boroughs. Thousands of people from around the world are expected to converge on the city, often in their distinctive yellow Falun Dafa shirts, as they do each year to join celebrations.
Practitioners in more than 100 countries celebrate May 13 every year, because it was on that day in 1992 that Falun Dafa was first introduced to the public. Millions of people around the world have benefitted from the teachings of Falun Dafa, finding something simple yet profound in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, which are the core of the practice.
The parade will also mark the ongoing brutal repression of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. “Falun Dafa practitioners have shown remarkable resilience and creativity,” said David Tompkins an organizer of the parade. “They have found many ways to peacefully defy the Chinese Communist regime’s suppression of their belief. This parade is also a celebration of that resilience.”
A rally shortly before the parade, held by Tuidang participants, will call for all Chinese people to renounce the Chinese Communist regime. The Tuidang movement surpassed 200 million participants in April 2015. Renouncing the Chinese Communist regime allows Chinese people to purge the fear that the regime uses to control and manipulate them.
| What: | Parade in Manhattan celebrating World Falun Dafa Day |
| Rally calling for freedom in China | |
| Where: | Parade: 42nd Street from 2nd to 11th Avenue |
| Rally: Dag Hammarskjold Park at 47th Street & 1st Avenue | |
| When: | Friday May 15th, 2015, Parade beginning at noon, Rally beginning at 10am |
| Media Contacts: | David Tompkins 347-399-9110 Rong Yi 347-618-8518 |
Background
Falun Dafa is a self-cultivation practice with five gentle, easy-to-learn exercises, one of which is a meditation. Falun Dafa also consists of learning the principles of self-cultivation, that is, how to embody Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. The cultivation system resonated with Chinese people, growing through word of mouth from a handful of people in 1992, when it was first made public, to an estimated 70 million in 1999. In July 1999, China’s Communist regime launched a brutal campaign in an effort to suppress Falun Dafa. For 16 years the regime has used violence, censorship, and propaganda in its attack on the practice. This violence continues today.
Tuidang is a movement that asks Chinese people to renounce an oath given to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that they will give their blood for the Party, that they will struggle their whole life for the Party, and that they will never betray the Party. Almost all Chinese people have given this oath either freely or through coercion. Renouncing the oath allows Chinese people to think freely and independently. It allows Chinese people to reject the fear the CCP uses to control them. It allows them to think critically of the Chinese Communist regime, and it allows Chinese people to determine their own future. The Tuidang movement has grown rapidly since January 2005. In April 2015, it passed 200 million participants. It continues to grow at about 120,000 participants each day.]]>
