One practitioner, who is over 70 years old and recently began practicing, said, “We are human beings. Every one of us has the right to do things that are suitable for us.” She is very thankful for being able to learn Falun Dafa and hopes that more people can benefit from it too.

Due to the gloomy weather, fewer people were passing by the Quito practice site that day. However, many residents already knew about the persecution and understood the truth. Passersby signed the petition to call for an end to the persecution.

People were indignant about the CCP’s violent acts. A few young ladies signed their names on the petition with tears in their eyes after they read the content of the petition. Many Ecuadorians who received the flyers and read the contents signed the petition.

One young woman talked with a practitioner in fluent Chinese as she signed the petition. She explained that her husband is Chinese. A singer not only signed her name, but asked for more flyers to share with friends and family.

The people who signed the petition opposing the persecution came from various occupations. Even police officers who passed by the practitioners’ practice site signed the petition to show their support for the practitioners’ efforts.

By the time the event ended that afternoon, most people who passed by the practice site had signed the petition.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Millions of people have embraced the teachings–which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance–and learned the five exercises have experienced uplifted health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organisation with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.