Australia: "People are in Shock, People are Awakening!" Report on Brisbane's Anti-Torture Exhibition

On July the 10th 2004, Dafa practitioners in Queensland, Australia held a large-scale anti-torture exhibition at King George Square in downtown Brisbane to further expose the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China to the public. The torture scenes were so true-to-life that they shocked many people who stopped to take a look at the exhibition, including many tourists and students from Mainland China. People's faces showed a mixture of emotions - shock, being overwhelmed, sadness, sympathy towards the victims and anger with the perpetrators.

One man passed by our exhibit, after watching the exhibition, he said, "This is very powerful. I knew little about what is happening in China until now. To think that people are being tortured this way, at this very moment, is shocking. It makes one feel that one wants to know more about the persecution and do something about it."

Another gentleman named David said, "I've just looked at the anti-torture exhibition in front of Town Hall, and I was totally disgusted. The torture is terrible, truly terrible. It must be stopped."

There was another young man who told us his name was Michael. He was on his way to the city centre to buy some music CDs and to have a drink afterwards, and was looking forward to a pleasant day. However, when he viewed the torture exhibition, his heart became very heavy. He said to a practitioner, "This exhibition is making an impact. You need to emphasise the reality, and you did it really well. You need to let people know just how deep and dark the persecution is. If it had not been for the shocking torture scenes, I might have just walked past. My heart became really heavy and it made me think deeply about issues I might not think about otherwise. I may feel heavy for the rest of the day, which I don't really want, but I would rather feel heavy and sign your petition than remain ignorant!"

There were two little homeless girls about 12 or 13 years old. After they looked at the exhibition, they kept asking a practitioner, "What can we do to help? We want to help those people who are being tortured." When they saw the petition letter, they immediately wrote their names down with great care and solemnity. Yet, they still did not want to go and asked again, "Please tell us what else can we do to help, we want to help those people in China."

Some other people were shocked at the degree of the persecution, and also asked a question, "Why do Falun Gong practitioners still stick to their beliefs when facing such inhumane torture." After a practitioner explained to them the principles of "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance" and the great physical and mental benefits of the practice people experience, as well as the importance of upholding these principles for the benefit of all humanity, a mother and her daughter said, "Now we understand. Those Falun Gong people in China are so noble. We'll pray for them, and may God bless them."