On March 25, groups of Falun Gong practitioners in San Francisco took to the streets to collect signatures for a petition to stop forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China.
They held up signs with information that exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, including subjecting them to forced live organ harvesting and selling those organs to wealthy transplant tourists who arrange to have the transplants in China hospitals.
People in the city who witnessed the roadside demonstrations were shocked to learn about the information.
“Very, very bad. It’s stealing from people in the worst way and it’s got to stop. This petition to the United Nations Human Rights [Council]—they’ve got to take action,” said James, a San Francisco resident.
“It’s crazy that it’s so many people are victims to this,” said Russian exchange student Emanuel Andrusyak.
Many stopped to sign the petition and support the cause.
“It should be stopped, it must be stopped,” said Kilan, who lives in the city.
“I think it’s absolutely horrible for people to have this happening without their consent and without their will. I feel like I definitely want to know more about this and help other people learn more, too,” said Shannon Falcone, another San Francisco resident.
Last June, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.Res.343, legislation that condemns “systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from nonconsenting prisoners of conscience in the People’s Republic of China.” The majority of those prisoners of conscience are practitioners of Falun Gong.
Though resolution 343 was passed, the crime of forced live organ harvesting is still taking place in China. There have also been reports of factories in Dalian, China, that process bodies of deceased Falun Gong practitioners into objects for exhibition.
Ruixin Wang, Falun Gong practitioner:
“Plastination factories are used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners are abducted, their organs are harvested, then their bodies are processed into plastic models in factories and sold for a high price on the international market. They use this method as a form of persecution.”
In order to raise awareness about these crimes and allow more people to learn the truth about what is happening in China, the practitioners said they will hold small-scale demonstrations every Saturday throughout the city.