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WASHINGTON—Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners from across the nation rallied at the National Mall on July 17, marking 26 years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began a systematic persecution targeting the faith group. Leading human rights experts spoke, highlighting a critical crossroads.

The persecution is not something only happening in China, they said, as the CCP has ramped up its transnational repression campaign and exported its persecution efforts onto American soil.

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) said he was honored to join Falun Gong practitioners' continued efforts to counter the CCP's persecution. Ryan's district includes the headquarters of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners.

"Your unwavering adherence to the values that we see here so powerfully today, of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, truly serves as a beacon for everyone in our great country, in the United States America," he said.

Ryan is a co-sponsor of the Falun Gong Protection Act, which <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/house-unanimously-passes-falun-gong-protection-act-to-counter-ccps-forced-organ-harvesting-5852764" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">would</a> sanction the communist regime for its practice of <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/exposure-of-forced-organ-harvesting-could-trigger-ccps-fall-chinese-prison-survivor-5876207" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">killing</a> detained Falun Gong practitioners for their organs. The bill has passed in the House, and Ryan called on the Senate to advance and pass its version of the legislation.

Ryan said he is asking law enforcement on the federal, state, and local levels to do more and understand the “scope and breadth of illegal and inappropriate actions” that the Chinese regime has carried out against Falun Gong practitioners on U.S. soil.

“We can't lose focus," Ryan told The Epoch Times after the rally. “We need to do more.”

Congressman Pat Ryan (D-NY-18) speaks during a Falun Dafa rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)


<h2>26 Years</h2>
Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual practice that involves meditative exercises and moral teachings centered on the three principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. It surged in popularity in China in the 1990s, with about 70 million to 100 million people taking up the practice by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time. This was deemed a threat to the communist regime's absolute control.

Since July 20, 1999, the CCP has sought to wipe out the practice through violent means, including torture in concentration camps and forced organ harvesting, as well as manipulation of public opinion with propaganda.

Then-Party leader Jiang Zemin, the architect of the persecution, had expected he would be able to "eradicate" the practice in short order. But 26 years later, Falun Gong is still practiced not only in China but in around 100 countries worldwide, and practitioners continue to call attention to the CCP's human rights abuses.

Falun Dafa practitioners gather for an annual rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

"We gather here to bear witness to an ongoing tragedy," said Alan Adler, executive director of Friends of Falun Gong.

"But the CCP failed to understand that you cannot extinguish the human spirit. For 26 years, Falun Gong practitioners have stood firm, with unwavering conviction, inspiring people worldwide.

"This persecution threatens the fundamental right of every human being to believe and live according to their conscience. When we defend these practitioners, we defend human dignity itself.

"The CCP influence has spread far beyond China's borders. If we remain silent, we turn away, we risk losing the freedom that defines us as a civilized society today."

Greg Scarlatoiu, president of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said Falun Gong practitioners are an inspiration to human rights advocates, having stood against one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

"No oppressive campaigns are welcome on U.S. soil. They never will be," Scarlatoiu said. "Truth, compassion, tolerance, and human rights will always prevail. We will prevail together and soon celebrate the fall of tyrants."

Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, speaks during a Falun Dafa rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)


<h2>Policy for Change</h2>
Piero Tozzi, staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan and bicameral panel, said the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong reveals its unchanged "monstrous nature."

"For over 25 years, Falun Gong has been the canary in the coal mine, warning of the oppressive nature of the communist regime," said Tozzi, a longtime supporter of Falun Gong practitioners' efforts to end the regime’s persecution.

Tozzi had served as senior policy adviser to Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who authored the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025 and held the first congressional hearing on the persecution of Falun Gong about two decades ago. Tozzi called on the Senate to pass the bill, which would sanction individuals involved in the CCP's state-sanctioned operation to harvest organs from prisoners of conscience for sale on the transplant market.

Piero Tozzi, staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China attends an annual rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

"Transnational repression is getting more and more blatant," Tozzi told The Epoch Times, pointing to the 2024 APEC Summit in San Francisco, where peaceful protesters critical of CCP leader Xi Jinping were <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/eyewitness-pro-ccp-members-assaulted-at-least-40-anti-communist-protesters-during-san-francisco-apec-5532697">beaten</a> by pro-CCP individuals with connections to Chinese consulates.

Tozzi said that the CCP exploits the systems in free societies like the United States to advance its persecution overseas and that frontline law enforcement, on both state and local levels, doesn't necessarily understand the nature of the communist regime.

"They don't realize that this is a predatory regime, that this long arm extends to the United States of America, to Americans," Tozzi said.

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Smith is reintroducing the Transnational Repression Policy Act in the House, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is doing so in the Senate. The </span><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/rep-smith-calls-on-congress-to-pass-transnational-repression-legislation-in-response-to-apec-summit-violence-5546238"><span style="font-weight: 400;">legislation</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> would require training to help law enforcement recognize and counter transnational repression.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Mohamed Elsanousi, commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">told The Epoch Times that sanctions are an important tool the United States should use against regimes that violate religious freedom.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We strongly recommend the U.S. government to impose sanctions on China ... for what they do in terms of oppression of religious freedom for those minorities, for Falun Gong, the Uyghurs, and others," he said. </span>

Mohamed Elsanousi, Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), speaks during a Falun Dafa rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Serkan Tas, an associate director at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, also called on governments to do more against a persecution that began with Falun Gong in China but has expanded. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Governments must pressure international bodies to adopt more proactive positions and address their own complacency while utilizing sanctions," Tas said. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The State Department, marking the anniversary, has condemned the persecution.  </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">“For over 26 years, the CCP has waged a campaign of repression against practitioners of Falun Gong and their families,” a department spokesperson </span><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/state-dept-calls-on-ccp-to-end-campaign-to-eradicate-falun-gong-5888550"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The Epoch Times. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">“We again call on the CCP to end its campaign to eradicate Falun Gong.”</span>

Falun Dafa practitioners gather for an annual rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)


<h2>Escalation</h2>
Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, said the communist regime’s sweeping repression of Falun Gong amounted to a genocide.

"The threat to Falun Gong and other forbidden groups is coming here," Shea said.

"I was personally at the Kennedy Center earlier this year when there was a bomb threat,” she said, referring to a <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/kennedy-center-evacuated-over-bomb-threats-targeting-shen-yun-5813571">fake</a> bomb threat on the day of Shen Yun’s opening performance.

The CCP  has been behind efforts to threaten, physically attack, and spread propaganda against these religious believers in America, Shea said.

"This is unacceptable, it's un-American, it's a denial of religious freedom, and a denial of free speech," she said.

Nina Shea, Director of the Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute speaks during a Falun Dafa rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)

Faith McDonnell, director of advocacy at nonprofit Katartismos, said the CCP's attacks on Shen Yun "represents a great escalation" of the CCP's infiltration and subversion of American society and freedoms.

Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, commended the bravery of Falun Gong practitioners who have not only stood up against the "cruel, perverse, barbaric persecution" by the CCP, but also offered its members the "chance to leave and join the rest of the world in its tolerance of human rights," he said.

A few years after the persecution began, The Epoch Times published a <a href="https://www.ninecommentaries.com/english">series of editorials</a> titled "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party," delving into the nature of the Party and its violent history. The publication inspired a movement that has seen 449 million people withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

Christian Freedom International President Wendy Wright has worked to try to protect persecuted Christians around the world, and said Falun Gong’s response in the face of the CCP’s “overwhelming” persecution has given “the rest of us hope.”

“As I live here in Washington, D.C., I see Falun Gong everywhere, in all different avenues, spreading the truth, whether it's through news or the art, creative art, through demonstrations, and by being so visual and vigilant,” she told The Epoch Times.

“It has really helped to hold the bar or show how to be an active voice on behalf of those who are being oppressed by the [CCP].”

Wendy Wright, President of the Christian Freedom International speaks during a Falun Dafa rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)


<h2>‘An American Issue’</h2>
Teresa Zhang, 31, experienced the persecution as a young child in China.

When she was in elementary school, her schoolmate’s mother—someone who cooked for her and brought her toys—was arrested and then killed within a week of detention.

When Zhang was 14, her teacher reported her for handing out some Falun Gong materials to classmates. She was detained and released the next day, but her mother was imprisoned for two years.

Now, the regime is trying to push the persecution to the whole world, Zhang said.

"This is the time people in the world should wake up: The Chinese Communist Party is anti-humanity," she told The Epoch Times.

Teresa Zhang attends an annual rally calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the National Mall in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Kristina Feng was born in the United States one month after the persecution began. Her father and mother, then eight months pregnant with her, were among the Falun Gong practitioners who rallied in Washington in July 1999 as news of the CCP's persecution made its way overseas.

"I'm here in memory of the people in China who were persecuted," said Feng, who feels a responsibility to stand up for those denied freedom of belief in China.

She said that the CCP is exporting its persecution to the United States, noting that “it’s scary, but it’s not surprising.” It’s a reminder that the world cannot stand by as the CCP persecutes people for their faith, Feng added.

Entrepreneurs Babak and Julia Baniasadi both learned about Falun Gong less than a year before the onset of the persecution—Babak in Colorado and Julia in Germany. Neither could believe that the peaceful practice that had brought them so many benefits had been painted as an enemy of the state overnight in its country of origin.

On July 17, the Baniasadis and their son joined the rally in Washington because more needs to be done to raise awareness, they said.

"People are being tortured, murdered, killed, their organs are being removed—organ harvesting—for profit, families are being torn apart," Babak Baniasadi said.

"And instead of the Chinese Communist Party stopping their persecution, they have even extended their persecution to us here in the United States.

"We're just asking all kind-hearted people to recognize, spread the word, and stand up against the Chinese Communist Party."

Julia Baniasadis said that sometimes, people are surprised to see that non-Chinese like themselves also practice Falun Gong, and she hopes to show people this is a global issue affecting not just the Falun Gong practitioners around the world, but all of humanity.

"This is not a Chinese issue. It's also a worldwide issue. It's an American issue," she said.

Falun Dafa practitioners take part in a march calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)

Falun Dafa practitioners take part in a march calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 26 years of persecution of Falun Gong in China, in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/falun-gong/lawmaker-rights-advocates-condemn-ccps-26-year-persecution-of-falun-gong-at-washington-rally-5887649">The Epoch Times</a></em>

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Rally in Washington Raises Awareness of CCP’s 26-Year Persecution of Falun Gong

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