Toronto [Canada] September 20 (ANI): Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters held a rally and parade in Toronto on Saturday, calling for an end to the Chinese regime’s persecution of the spiritual practice in China and alleged transnational repression against practitioners and supporters in Canada, as reported by The Epoch Times (TET).
The rally was held at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto, where speakers highlighted concerns over the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 27-year persecution of Falun Gong.
According to the TET report, Falun Gong practitioner Pan Xuefeng described the persecution as “state-led genocide and a crime against humanity.” Pan also alleged that the CCP has harvested organs from Falun Gong practitioners held as prisoners of conscience while they are still alive and sold the organs for profit.
Speaking at the event, Pan said the alleged practice had crossed what he described as “the last lines of human civility and morality,” according to TET.
Matthew Leeder, an emcee at the rally, described Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, as a peaceful spiritual and meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. He said the practice had an “overwhelmingly positive impact on Chinese society in the 1990s” before the CCP began its persecution in 1999.
As cited by TET, Leeder said that former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999 and alleged that the repression has since extended beyond China, including to Canada.
Leeder further claimed that there have been “many well-documented incidents” involving alleged attempts by Chinese state actors to influence Canadian politicians against supporting Falun Gong.
The TET report also highlighted alleged Chinese interference involving Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York-based classical Chinese dance company whose artists practise Falun Gong. The company was established with the stated aim of reviving traditional Chinese culture.
According to TET, several Shen Yun performances have faced bomb threats that police confirmed were hoaxes. In late March and early April this year, bomb threats led to the cancellation of performances at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Police reportedly traced the email used to issue the threats to a phone number based in China. The same email address was also reportedly used in bomb threats targeting Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
The Toronto performances were later rescheduled and held at the Four Seasons Centre approximately a month later, Leeder said, as cited by TET.
“These cancellations clearly have affected thousands of Canadian patrons, and all done by a foreign regime,” Leeder said, according to the report.
He argued that alleged foreign interference aimed at restricting the expression of Canadian citizens on Canadian soil raises concerns over constitutional freedoms, including freedom of belief, expression, and artistic expression.
Leeder called on Canadian society to stand against what he described as the CCP’s transnational repression, according to TET. (ANI)
Hundreds rally in Toronto against China’s persecution of Falun Gong, transnational repression
