WASHINGTON D.C. — On July 23, nearly 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners and supporters from across the eastern and central United States gathered in the nation’s capitol to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of the peaceful spiritual practice.
The day began with a large rally at the Lincoln Memorial before participants marched along Constitution Avenue to the German-American Friendship Garden near the Washington Monument. The procession featured three themed songs, “Falun Dafa Is Good,” “Stop the Persecution,” and “Support the 464 Million Chinese Who Have Quit the CCP,” drawing widespread attention from tourists and local residents alike as supporters lined the streets of D.C.
Throughout the rally, participants called on the international community to help end the CCP’s decades-long campaign of religious persecution and to secure the release of imprisoned prisoners of conscience in China.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Despite being peaceful in nature, the CCP launched a brutal campaign to eradicate the practice in July 1999 after seeing its rapid rise in popularity as a threat to its authoritarian regime. Since then, thousands of practitioners have perished at the hands of Chinese police, with many today still undergoing routine monitoring, arbitrary travel bans, and arrests.
RELATED: Thousands Rally in Manhattan to Condemn 27 Years of Falun Gong Persecution
Renewed calls for accountability
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Ahead of the rally, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) issued a statement on July 21 urging the U.S. government to pressure Beijing to release detained Falun Gong practitioners and impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for the persecution. More than a dozen members of Congress from both political parties also sent letters or recorded video messages expressing support.
Several speakers also highlighted allegations of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting, citing years of investigations, tribunal findings, and human rights reports concluding that prisoners of conscience, including many Falun Gong practitioners, have been killed to supply China’s transplant industry.
Representative Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), who attended the rally in person, praised practitioners for remaining steadfast in their belief in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He pledged continued support for the Falun Gong Protection Act (S.4009/H.R.1540), legislation that seeks to sanction officials involved in forced organ harvesting and related practices.
“I know that in my own district there are many residents who continue to live in fear and under threat,” Ryan said. “Many of their family members remain imprisoned, or are still unable to freely practice their faith and enjoy religious freedom. That makes this struggle deeply personal to me, and strengthens my determination to speak out even more forcefully on their behalf.”
Condemnation of forced organ harvesting
Kurt Werthmuller, Senior Director for Policy and Research at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said the CCP’s treatment of Falun Gong has been extensively documented. He noted that in its 2026 Annual Report, released in March, USCIRF again recommended that the U.S. State Department designate China as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for severe violations of religious freedom and urged the United States and its allies to hold perpetrators accountable.
Faith McDonnell, Director of Advocacy at Katartismos Global and a longtime human rights advocate, described the CCP’s persecution and disturbing forced organ harvesting practices as “an existential threat” not only to Falun Gong practitioners, but also to the Chinese people, Americans, and other oppressed populations across the globe.
McDonnell said growing international awareness of forced organ harvesting has intensified global condemnation of the practice. After reading the investigative book Killed to Order: China’s Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America’s Biggest Adversary by Jan Jekielek, she said she learned that some senior CCP officials reportedly believed repeated organ transplants could indefinitely prolong their lives.
“But the truth is, this evil practice cannot save them,” she said, adding, “God will never allow anyone to try to extend their own life by sacrificing the lives of others. In God’s justice and final judgment, the CCP will never escape accountability for these demonic crimes.”
Blueprint for wider repression
Policy and human rights activisits argued that many of the CCP’s most sophisticated surveillance and repression techniques were first developed against Falun Gong before being expanded to other targeted groups and disenfranchised groups in China, including Tibetans, Uyghur Muslims, and Christians.
Sean Nelson, Senior Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom at ADF International, said China’s nationwide surveillance systems used to monitor religious communities were originally created to track and apprehend Falun Gong practitioners. He added that arbitrary detention, mass incarceration, and torture later used against Uyghurs and underground Christian churches followed the same pattern.
Karina Lipsman, Director of External Affairs at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, warned that Beijing has increasingly exported its repression overseas. She said organizations including Shen Yun Performing Arts have reported threats and intimidation abroad, adding that allegations of forced organ harvesting require continued international scrutiny and urgent action.
Founded in 2006, Shen Yun is a New York-based performing company dedicated to reviving traditional Chinese culture and art through classical Chinese dance and music. Many of its performers and staff are practitioners of Falun Gong. Because of this, Shen Yun is not currently able to perform in mainland China.
Piero Tozzi, Senior Director for China Policy at the America First Policy Institute, stressed the importance of distinguishing between the CCP and the Chinese people, whom he described as the regime’s greatest victims. He also criticized China’s newly-enacted Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, noting that it “extends to organizations and individuals outside the territory,” and demonstrates Beijing’s expanding claims to exercise authority and oppression beyond China’s borders.
Rick Fisher, Senior Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, thanked practitioners for their decades of sacrifice, saying they represent “a path toward freedom of thought and truth” at a time when defending conscience has become increasingly important.
‘We want concrete action’
Former NBA star and international human rights advocate Enes Kanter Freedom also addressed the rally, urging U.S. lawmakers to move beyond words and take concrete action against the CCP. Drawing comparisons between life in the United States and the persecution unfolding in China, he said, “While we are comfortably playing basketball in this country, on the other side of the world people are losing their loved ones, losing their lives and losing their homes.”
Calling Washington to action, Freedom said, “We are tired of hearing condemnations. We don’t want to hear condemnation anymore. We want you to take concrete action against the Chinese Communist Party.” He also expressed solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners, saying, “I want to say that you have an ally, an NBA player.”
He added, “I know that I lost my career and lost millions of dollars, but it is nothing compared to what you are going through.” Concluding his remarks, Freedom said the principles of Falun Dafa offer values that world leaders should embrace. “If all these world leaders actually listen and follow these pure messages of Falun Dafa, you won’t have any of these wars right now,” he concluded with.
State department warns of repression
Just days before the event, on July 21, the U.S. State Department reiterated its commitment to countering Beijing’s transnational repression inside the United States to protect vulnerable communities, including Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience, from intimidation and harassment.
Observers noted that the rally took place amid heightened U.S.-China tensions, as the Trump administration has continued to tighten restrictions on defense procurement, expand tariffs targeting forced labor, and increase pressure on Beijing over biotechnology security and supply-chain risks. Against that backdrop, concerns over transnational repression, religious freedom, and allegations of forced organ harvesting have become an increasingly bipartisan issue in Washington.
Following the march, participants gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for a candlelight vigil commemorating Falun Gong practitioners who perished in the last 27 years of for refusing to renounce their faith. More than 5,000 candles were arranged to spell the words “Falun Dafa” near the Reflecting Pool, creating a solemn memorial that resonated deeply with supporters and bystanders.
