WASHINGTON—On July 16, around 1,500 Falun Gong practitioners congregated in the nation’s capital to call for an end to the Chinese communist regime’s decades-long persecution of the spiritual practice. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched a massive campaign to eradicate the faith group after the practice gained tens of millions of adherents during the decade. Since then, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in detention centers, prisons, labor camps, and brainwashing centers across the country. Those detained have been subjected to torture, psychological abuse, and organ harvesting. After a rally at Capitol Hill, practitioners marched down Consitution Avenue to the Washington Monument. A candlelight vigil remembering the untold number of victims of the persecution will be held at the monument in the evening.