SAN FRANCISCO—Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners held a parade on July 12 in San Francisco to raise awareness of the 26-year persecution of the spiritual practice in China.

The practitioners began the parade in Harry Bridges Plaza at the Ferry Building, traveled along Market Street and Geary Street, headed around Union Square, and ended the march in Portsmouth Square in Chinatown.

The parade was part of a series of events held in the days leading up to July 20, the anniversary of the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the practice and the start of practitioners’ peaceful resistance.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was first introduced to the public in China in 1992. It incorporates moral teachings and meditative exercises. By 1999, tens of millions of people in China were practicing it.

In July 1999, the Chinese communist regime viewed the large number of Falun Gong adherents as a threat to its rule and began persecuting them using violence, harassment, and other tactics. Since then, many practitioners have experienced unlawful incarceration, torture, and even death at the hands of the regime.

Xuyao Liu, who started practicing Falun Gong 27 years ago, experienced torture multiple times before she recently escaped from China to the United States. She told The Epoch Times that when she was imprisoned not long after the persecution began, she was beaten by prison guards and was handcuffed from behind with her right hand up and her left hand down.

“I felt the handcuff cut into my wrists deeper and deeper,” she said. “The fierce pain made me feel dizzy.”

At that time, Liu’s daughter was only 8 years old.

Liu was again arrested in China in 2019 for handing out Falun Gong brochures in the streets. She was detained for 11 days and was released following a 7-day hunger strike.

Karrisa, a Bay Area resident visiting San Francisco, spoke to The Epoch Times while she watched the parade pass by.

“This group is so peaceful. It’s awful that somebody would persecute someone who’s just here for peace, and for any beliefs if they’re not doing anything wrong to anybody,” she said.

Karrisa burst into tears when she learned that imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners in China are sometimes killed for their organs. She said she cares about Chinese people suffering persecution “because we’re all humans.”

San Francisco resident Fatima told The Epoch Times: “It’s amazing to see how everybody came together for this cause.”

At the same time, she was saddened to see what is happening in China.

“We need to do more,” she said. “I just sent my prayers to them. May God give them strength, and may God literally help us stop this.”

The practice’s three guiding principles—truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—resonated with many visitors at Harry Bridges Plaza, where practitioners did the five Falun Gong exercises on the day of the parade.

Ferndale resident and cabinetmaker Scotty Collin told The Epoch Times, “Without compassion and tolerance, human beings are lost, so it’s very important to have compassion and tolerance.”

Falun Gong practitioners march in a parade in San Francisco on July 12, 2025. (Gary Wang/The Epoch Times)

“We won’t get away with evil things,” Collin said as a message to those in the Chinese regime who executed the persecution. “Even if no human sees us, we won’t get away with it because when we are on our deathbed and we pass to the other side, then we destroy ourselves [with] the evil that we do to others.”

A passerby nicknamed Sam, who is Indian American, saw the fifth Falun Gong exercise, a sitting meditation, being demonstrated and decided to give it a try.

“I felt the succession of movements helped with a stillness of mind which allowed something more to fill me up. It was very effective,” he told The Epoch Times afterward.

Sam (2nd R) learns the fifth Falun Gong exercise in Harry Bridges Plaza in San Francisco on July 12, 2025. (Gary Wang/The Epoch Times)

He said he believes that the reason practitioners are persecuted in China is that they believe in the divine and that they don’t take the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as their god.

“It’s super peaceful and super friendly and super loving,” Sam said of the practice. “Spirituality is also something that I don’t think [the] CCP is too happy about.”

In addition to the parade, local practitioners plan to hold a rally in Portsmouth Square on July 19.

Practitioners do the Falun Gong exercises before a parade in San Francisco on July 12, 2025. (Gary Wang/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners hold photos of persecuted victims while marching in a parade in San Francisco on July 12, 2025. (Gary Wang/The Epoch Times)

Ferndale resident and cabinetmaker Scotty Collin at Harry Bridges Plaza on July 12, 2025. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioner Yaoxu Liu, a torture survivor, meditates in Harry Bridges Plaza on July 12, 2025. (Belinda Yu/The Epoch Times)

Gary Wang, Jenny Zheng, and Belinda Yu contributed to this report.