(Clearwisdom.net) minghui.ca correspondent Wang Ying reports from San Francisco - On February 19, 2005, several hundreds Falun Gong practitioners participated in the grand Lunar New Year Parade in San Francisco. With their initial application to attend this parade being denied, Falun Gong practitioners tried hard to clarify the truth to people from all walks of life, broke through all kinds of obstacles and finally brought the goodness of Falun Dafa to hundreds of thousands of residents in San Francisco. Practitioners' procession was the best received entry in the parade.
  Banner with words, "Falun Dafa Is Great" |   Banner with words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" |   Banner with words, "Falun Dafa" |
  Falun Gong is coming for you |   Peaceful exercise demonstration |   Waist drum troupe full of power and grandeur |
  Lotus flower dance |   Colorful lantern dance |
The San Francisco Lunar New Year Parade is one of the largest parades in Northern California. Hundreds of thousands people watch it every year and many TV stations come to conduct live broadcast. Because of practitioners' outstanding performance in last year's parade, TV Channel-2 (FOX) included in its announcement of this years' parade some footages of Falun Gong practitioners' procession in last year's parade.
The Chinese Communist Regime desperately fears that people would see how Falun Gong is warmly received overseas
Jiang's faction has put a great effort in San Francisco through its Consulate here to exert pressure to local U.S. government officials and officials of surrounding cities. They also bribe local Chinese associations and Chinese media to wantonly spread lies slandering Falun Gong.
The San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce was the organizer of the Lunar New Year parade. Some members of the chamber have close relationship with the Chinese Consulate. Several weeks before the parade, yielding to the pressure from the Chinese Consulate, the chamber unreasonably rejected Falun Gong practitioners' application to participate in the parade.
Falun Gong practitioners hold press conference in San Francisco to expose the evil and draw great attention from a number of media
Falun Gong practitioners hold press conference in front of the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce
On the noon of February 16, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce, requesting a reasonable answer regarding the denial of their application for attending this year's parade in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Practitioner Mr. Huy Lu expressed that this incident is another example of the Chinese Communist regime's extension of its persecution against Falun Gong through its Consulates to other countries. He said that practitioners already sent a letter to Mayor of San Francisco, Mr. Gavin Newsom, to request an investigation into the incident. Mr.
Lu said that Falun Gong is part of the Chinese community and it's supposed to be normal to take part in the Lunar New Year celebration. Falun Gong has participated in a good number of community parades and celebrations in the Bay area including the grand parades in the Redwood City and Alameda, and won many awards including the first-place prizes.
Falun Gong practitioners' press conference in San Francisco drew great attention from the media. San Francisco TV Channel-2 (FOX), Chinese TV Channel-26, New Tang Dynasty TV, the Epoch Times, Sound of Hope Radio Network and Mingpao newspaper reported the incident.
San Francisco Chronicle, the most influential local English newspaper published an article as its top news on February 19 about the unreasonable rejection of Falun Gong practitioners' application for attending the parade. The article entitled, "San Francisco Politics on parade for Chinese New Year fest: Same-sex marriage float allowed - Falun Gong rejected" said, "Organizers of the Chinese New Year Parade typically try to keep politics out of the annual procession, but a same-sex marriage float successfully made a bid to be part of the festivities, and one honoring the spiritual movement Falun Gong will be notably absent from today's parade celebrating the Year of the Rooster."
Through clarifying the truth, Falun Gong practitioners break through the obstacles to obtain approval to join the parade
In order to allow San Francisco residents to once again witness the beauty of Falun Dafa, practitioners unfolded a series of activities to clarify the truth. They explained the situation and facts about Falun Gong to related U.S. governments and parade organizations. Finally, practitioners obtained approval to attend the parade.
Practitioner Ms. Sherry Zhang revealed that California Assemblyman Mr. Leland Yee, expressed his concern over this incident. He said, "How could it be this way? Our law stipulates that no discrimination is allowed." He said that Falun Gong practitioners have the right to request the organizers to provide a written explanation. Practitioners can request the City government to investigate on the incident. If any discrimination is discovered, the city government should not allocate funds for the parade.
Ms. Zhang said that Mr. Weiliang Li, a city government official of San Francisco also expressed that the city government provides funds for the San Francisco Lunar New Year Parade every year. One rule in the articles of allocating funds states that organizers should not discriminate against anyone. This official said that if Falun Gong practitioners are discriminated against, they could file a written request to him and he would investigate it.
Spectators say: the Falun Gong entry is the best and the most beautiful
A resident from San Francisco Chinatown kept photographing Falun Gong practitioners' entry. He said that every group should be allowed to participate in the parade to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The Falun Gong procession is so beautiful and it is the best and most beautiful entry that he'd seen that evening.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang said that Chinese people value Lunar New Year celebration very much. As part of the community, we are very happy to participate in the celebration parade. The parade showed people the peaceful Falun Gong exercises, a waist drum troupe, full of power and grandeur, graceful lotus flower dancers, lantern dancers, and a peacock dance as well as a Tang Dynasty costume show and flag arrays. Spectators on both sides of the road warmly received us. They especially loved our traditional Chinese dance performances. Many police officers applauded our entry as well.
Another practitioner said, "Many spectators heard that the Chinese Communist Regime attempted to impede us from taking part in the parade. When they saw us in the parade, they all cheered for us."
City council member rides a car decorated with banner imprinted with words, "Falun Dafa is great" and takes part in the parade
San Francisco City Council member Mr. Daly and Falun Gong practitioners in the parade
When San Francisco City Council member Mr. Chris Daly learned that Falun Gong practitioners' application was turned down, he invited practitioners' procession to follow his car and asked practitioners to unfurl a banner with words, "Chris Daly Supports Falun Gong". After learning that this would not abide by the parade regulation, he prepared two banners and put them on his vehicle. One is imprinted with words, "Falun Dafa is great", another with words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance". He also invited two Falun Gong practitioners to ride with him and participate in the parade. Chris Daly's car received cheers from spectators along the route. Some people said: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are truly great!
Media vie for each other to report on Falun Gong
Before the parade set off, a number of media outlets including NBC TV, ABC Channel 7, and KCBS radio station looked for the Falun Gong entry to cover the news.
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