(Minghui.org) Since its launch in 2004, the annual Ormeau Lions Fair has attracted thousands of people every year and is now the largest community event in the region. Falun Gong practitioners joined the festivities this year, for the third time, on September 5 and 6.

Practitioners demonstrate Falun Gong exercises during the Ormeau Lions Fair in Gold Coast, Australia.

Impressed by the gentle meditation and handmade paper lotus flowers, which represented peace and purity, many people came up to learn more information. “I really love these flowers!” exclaimed a young woman. “They are so pretty. And the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is something that goes to your heart.”

Upon hearing about the severe suppression of Falun Gong in China, a large number of attendees signed petitions calling to stop the brutality. 

A Liberal National Party (LNP) volunteer named John was particularly receptive to the TV documentary by the government-funded Special Broadcasting Service called “Human Harvest: China’s Organ Trafficking.” He said that the LNP is considering making organ donations compulsory in Queensland unless the donor advises otherwise, which could help discourage people from visiting China for transplant tourism. He said, “Harvesting organs from living practitioners? It's insane, and it must stop.”

Practitioners give out handmade paper lotus flowers.

One woman signs a petition to support practitioners' peaceful resistance to the suppression by communist authorities in China.

Michael, who does martial arts as a hobby, had heard about Falun Gong in the past and how it is persecuted in China. When he asked practitioners why people in China persist in practicing Falun Dafa when the persecution is so severe, one practitioner shared how his permanent knee injury from judo practice was healed after a year and a half of regular meditation.