In what has become an annual spring ritual in Flushing, several hundred members of Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong and their supporters marched through the downtown business hub to a rally protesting alleged persecution of their group in China.
According to police the event, from noon to 4 p.m., was smaller than the last two years – as were the number of counter-protesters. The official line of the Chinese Communist Party is that Falun Gong is a dangerous cult, whose members encourage people not to seek medical treatment for illnesses.
Some immigrants from the mainland see the movement as an embarrassment, and a few spectators, including some young children, waved Chinese flags in support of their homeland.
The parade memorializes a demonstration in China on April 25, 1999 when tens of thousands of practitioners demonstrated against what they called “harassment.” In July of that year, Falun Gong members say, the Communist government began a “brutal and systematic persecution” of the movement and its members.
They say the movement encourages healthy living, and in addition to marchers dressed in white – the traditional color of mourning – carrying photos of Falun Gong practitioners allegedly killed while in custody, some carried banners and signs calling the “brutality of the Communist Party an embarrassment to the Chinese people.”
They accuse the Communist government of harvesting organs from prisoners, including their members, and call for a mass abandonment of the Communist Party.
At the conclusion of the march, numerous speakers related horror stories of persecution, while others, notably former City Councilmember and declared State Senate candidate Tony Avella, pledged continuing support and decried persecution.
