Fei Feng Lou, whose husband was forced to divorce her in China, and her son Runxin Wang hold signs at a rally held by Falun Gong practitioners to demand an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the spiritual practice, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington on Sept. 24, 2026. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
WASHINGTON—Hundreds of human rights activists gathered for a rally blocks away from the White House, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump on Sept. 24.
At the U.S. Navy Memorial Plaza, the protesters urged Trump to keep human rights as part of the dialogue as he met with Xi to discuss issues such as trade and artificial intelligence.
Activists, scholars, and current and former officials who spoke at the rally emphasized the importance of putting human rights and religious freedom front and center in foreign policy.
David Trimble, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, said religious freedom is often overshadowed by concerns of economic stability and national security.
The Founders placed religious freedom in the First Amendment because religious freedom “stands as an anchor to stability, as an anchor of international relations, and as an anchor of national security,” he said.
Congressman Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), who joined the rally, said it was a “disgrace” to welcome Xi with a red carpet, “when we know my own constituents have had their literal bodies mutilated and ripped apart as part of this systemic practice of organ harvesting.”
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Ryan called Xi “the No. 1 villain around the world of religious oppression and anti-freedom agenda.”
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) speaks at a rally to demand an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington on Sept. 24, 2026. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
For Maryland accountant Alisa Zhou, the persecution hit close to home.
In April, Zhou’s mother, Wang Youmei, was one of 17 arrested in the Chinese city of Wuhan over her Falun Gong faith, which features meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.
The detention of her mother “doesn’t have any ground,” because faith is “not a crime,” Zhou told The Epoch Times.
Ahead of the summit, a group of lawmakers brought up Wang’s case in a letter to Trump. They urged the president to be the champion for the political prisoners.
Robert Destro, a State Department official focused on human rights during the first Trump administration, said Washington needs to be clear-eyed about who it is dealing with.
The Chinese communists “don’t believe in freedom,” he said during the rally. “They believe in the Party.”
“The CCP is a cancer. The CCP is a parasite. You know, and a parasite sucks the life out of everything,” he said later in an interview.
The demonstrators here “know what terror looks like,” he said. He hopes others can also understand it.
Dave Wallace, a Republican candidate running to represent Maryland’s fifth congressional district, made a similar point.
“The light is the greatest disinfectant,” he told The Epoch Times.