Falun Gong is a Chinese self-cultivation practice combining meditation and exercises that grew to have over 70 million practitioners by 1999. It was initially supported by the Chinese government but was later seen as a threat. In April 1999, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners gathered near the central government to request legal recognition and freedom from interference, which prompted a massive nationwide crackdown by the Communist party in July 1999 involving blocking websites, human rights abuses, and allegations of organ harvesting from imprisoned Falun Gong members.