NEW YORK—The “Quit the CCP” movement took a prominent position in the massive parade of Falun Gong practitioners through the heart of New York on Saturday.
“Quit the CCP,” also known as Tuidang, which provides a registry for Chinese people to resign from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has been supported by Falun Gong practitioners who, after ten years of persecution, continue to suffer harshly at the hands of the CCP.
“The CCP is leading Chinese people to a path that is not human anymore,” said Mexican Falun Gong practitioner Lina Camarena, who was holding a “Quit the CCP” banner in support of the movement. “They [CCP] persecute people so that they can have control over the population.”
Ms Camarena was one of many international Falun Gong practitioners who participated in the parade.
“The Chinese Communist Party is killing people, killing good people and it is a crime,” said Tatiana Skulkina from Russia, “I think everyone in the world would say that if there is a crime they should do something.”
Susie Falls, an Australian, said she was participating in the “Quit the CCP” section of the parade to let Chinese people know that Westerners supported their resignations.
“The control of the CCP is not limited to China and we need to make a stand against what they represent. To make a stand for humankind.”
Tuidang grew out of the release of an opinion piece, the “Nine Commentaries,” which was released in Chinese and published in English by The Epoch Times. The “Nine Commentaries” outlines the detrimental effects the CCP has had on the development of China and the Chinese people, and has struck a chord with Chinese people. To date Tuidang has registered over 55 million resignations and the numbers continue to grow.
“Today is a celebration of so many people,” said Wei Min Zhu, who came from New Zealand.
Dr. Sen Nieh, coordinator for “Quit the CCP” in Washington said Tuidang was the largest social movement in China today and it was important for politicians and the people of Washington to understand what was happening.
“The U.S. government thought they knew everything about communism after dealing with Russia but there is a fundamental difference,” he told The Epoch Times at the New York parade, “The CCP is more brutal, vicious, beyond a normal person’s mentality.”
He cited the persecution of Falun Gong and particularly the organ harvesting as examples of the deception the CCP perpetuates in China.
“Even their own party members are kept in the dark about the extent of the persecution,” he said.
Many bystanders, both locals and tourists, also gathered to watch the parade.
Ken Maxim, on holidays from Britain with his daughter Anna, said he believed the Chinese should not have been given the Olympics because of their abuse of human rights and he was glad to see people taking a stand.
“It is very easy to gloss over [human rights] and I think it is a good idea to raise people’s awareness,” he said.
Locals Joe and Anna Gordon, who were watching the parade from Bryant Park, said they were very supportive.
Joe said he was pleased to see the “beautiful collaboration” in the dragon dance where Chinese and Westerners were working together to take a stand. He was supportive of the parade saying, “we support people to have the right not only to practice but also not to be killed. We hope that in the future there will be changes where people’s rights are not violated.”
Even local police, who were out in force to marshal the 4,000 plus parade were generous in their support.
I think it is great--the more exposure the better. Being tortured for doing exercises--I think it is a nonsense,” one NYPD officer told The Epoch Times.
He said it was almost unbelievable the sort of atrocities occurring in China but he believed that they were occurring.
“Why would all these people be here today, if it was not occurring,” he said.
The officer said he believed it was important to take a stand. “You have to stand up for your rights. You can’t take a back seat.”
