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Around 80 demonstrators gathered outside the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco to protest the 76th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) rise to power.
Holding banners with slogans like "Take Down the CCP" and "The CCP does not equal China", the crowd voiced strong opposition to what they described as decades of oppression and authoritarianism under the regime, as reported by The Epoch Times. According to The Epoch Times, protesters emphasised that October 1, the day the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, should not be seen as a day of celebration, but rather one of mourning. They accused the CCP of undermining human rights and suppressing freedoms both in China and abroad. Cong He, one of the rally's organisers, criticised the regime for failing to represent China's long-standing cultural heritage. He stated that under CCP rule, citizens have been stripped of their dignity, freedom, and right to vote. Junhong Zhou, a former lawyer from Shenzhen, pointed out that although the Chinese constitution claims to protect civil liberties, those rights are heavily restricted in practice. She called on international communities to stand with victims of political persecution. Jack Duong, founder of the Asian Alliance Against China Occupation and Repression, described the CCP's global economic influence as destructive. In his speech titled Death by China, he cited job losses and the Belt and Road Initiative as tools used by Beijing to expand authoritarian control. Ethnic repression was another major theme. Representatives of Tibetan and Hong Kong communities spoke about cultural erasure and the imprisonment of political dissidents. Lobsang Dorji of the Tibetan Youth Congress and Ken Chan of the Hong Kong Association of Northern California detailed the harsh treatment of minorities and pro-democracy activists, as cited by The Epoch Times. Zhenying Shi, a Hong Kong human rights advocate, warned of transnational repression, noting that even overseas activists face arrest warrants and surveillance. She highlighted recent warrants issued for members of the Hong Kong Parliament, a pro-democracy body formed in exile, as reported by The Epoch Times. (ANI)
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