Communist authorities have engaged in a coordinated effort to arrest Falun Gong practitioners and to defame the Falun Gong community by planting false news stories.

The Summary of Falun Gong Persecution in Changchun City Over the Past Three Months, Under the Guise of the Olympic Games

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was awarded the privilege of hosting the Olympics in 2001, they have made use of the Olympics as an excuse to intensify repression and human rights abuses,  especially the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. On February 19, 2008, under the banner of "The Central Political and Judiciary Committee," the CCP distributed a secret document entitled, "Comments on means by which to practically maintain the stability of society and guarantee the security of the Beijing Olympics." They recommended that between March and August 2008, the Party should "focus time and manpower to organize activities that will solve specific conflicts." They also specifically emphasized the need to "guard against and severely punish" Falun Gong practitioners. In late February 2008, the CCP Provincial Committee of Jilin Province held an urgent meeting focused on increasing the persecution of Falun Gong.

I. Branches of the CCP Work Together on the Persecution

In early March, the various CCP branches in Changchun and surrounding counties held a series of meetings to coordinate the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp in Changchun worked with all of the police stations in the province to provide detailed information about all of the practitioners who were persecuted by re-education through labor, especially those practitioners they thought to be "important." Then the police stations, based on this information, investigated, harassed and arrested practitioners one-by-one. All of the officers in the police stations were called to work and assigned to check practitioners in their district according to the blacklist that had been compiled. For those practitioners who had moved to new homes, police checked their workplaces. For those who had no workplace, they sought out their relatives. If they could not find any clue as to practitioners' whereabouts, they deceived the practitioners or their relatives into returning to the community using the ruse that they needed to come for something related to "social security." They tried every means to contact practitioners, and then threatened, tricked or forced practitioners into leaving their fingerprints, having their pictures taken, or signing/writing statements. When they were not sure about the practitioners' attitudes toward the practice, they illegally arrested and persecuted these practitioners. The police stations also recruited many unemployed people in their 40's or 50's to work as public security "agents." These people wear out-of-date green police uniforms. They walk along the streets every day in groups of two or three, with electric batons in their hands. In the city, there is a group of these people every hundred meters, and they intensively monitor pedestrians.

The police department in Changchun has also formed the so-called "Background Checking Office" for the Beijing Olympics. They do strict background checks of all of the coaches, athletes, volunteers, government officials and audience members who will attend the Beijing Olympics. Their main focus is on trying to find Falun Gong practitioners and their relatives. Officers who formed the "Background Checking Office" come from the Public Security Detachment and the Domestic Security Detachment of the city police department. The Public Security Division is in charge of investigating and providing information, while the Domestic Security Detachment is in charge of maintaining the list of Falun Gong practitioners and cataloging all of their connections in society. They monitor "important targets," and deny practitioners and their relatives the ability to participate in or attend the Beijing Olympics. Practitioners and their relatives are listed as targets to be monitored and they can be arrested any time. Those who had already bought tickets to the games or ceremonies had those tickets confiscated.

II. Illegal Arrests in Ouya Scientific Town

On the morning of April 22, practitioner Zhao Xiuying was arrested in Ouya Scientific Town by plainclothes police from Changchun City Police Department. On the night of April 22, practitioners Yan Lijie and Yue Xinying, who work in Ouya Scientific Park repairing printers, accountant Bai Yuping, retiree Gao Shuyu, supermarket employee Lu Daxin, as well as a Ms. Lu Aiping and her sister, were all arrested in their homes, and the homes were ransacked. Those who participated in the arrests and ransackings include staff from the Shuguanglu Police Station and the Weixinlu Police Station in the Nanguang District, as well as a police station in Luyuan District. After one month, all of the practitioners besides Gao Shuyu were sent to the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp for persecution. Gao Shuyu is still detained in the 3rd Detention Station in Changchun.

On April 23, the Police Department and the State Security Bureau of Changchun ordered Shuguanglu Police Station and Mr. Li Jun, and others from the Domestic Security Team of Nanguang Police Branch, to arrest twelve practitioners including Li Jingsong, Chen Jinyu, and Wang Zhaohui, who worked at Ouya Scientific Town in Changchun and the Changjianglu Scientific City. In the following several days, they placed large numbers of plainclothes police officers in the two Scientific Cities and other locations that sell computer accessories and printing materials.

On April 26, plainclothes police seized and arrested practitioner Wang Dongbiao as he was on his way to Ouya Scientific Town to repair appliances. They also ransacked his home. The next day, two more female practitioners, Ms. Yang, who is in her 50's, and Ms. Pu in her 40's, were arrested and taken to the Shuguanglu Police Station while on their way to Ouya Scientific Town to fix their printers.

It is known that these arrests were planned and organized. The officers who arrested these practitioners openly stated, "We have been following you for days." According to the Clearwisdom website, more than 20 practitioners were arrested during this period. Most of those arrested were sent to forced labor camps and/or sentenced on false charges.

III. The Changchun Evening Newspaper Frames Falun Gong Practitioners with False Accusations

On the same day of the illegal arrests in Ouya Scientific Town, April 23, the New Culture Newspaper published an article claiming that Falun Gong practitioners were responsible for the death of Ms. Xiao Rong. The purpose of this article was to incite hatred by ordinary people of Falun Gong and to create a justification for the latest round of persecution. The Changchun Evening Newspaper then published an article by "Chang Wan," framing Falun Gong with false accusations concerning the same incident, to create more justification for persecution and to further mislead those who do not know the truth of the matter. The articles by the Changchun Evening Newspaper were carried in many other newspapers nationwide and had a very negative effect.

Ms. Xiao Rong died on April 7, and on April 9, her body was subjected to a medical examination, and on April 10, the body was cremated. The entire case is mysterious. Before it was investigated by the court or any related departments, the media had already exaggerated the case in an extremely irresponsible manner. All fundamental principles of journalism, from objectivity to concern for the welfare of those affected by news reporting, were violated.

IV. Police in Changchun Arrest Falun Gong Practitioners

Beginning in March, before and after the arrests in Ouya Scientific Town, there were also more arrests of practitioners by other police stations in Changchun: From March until the writing of this report (June 18), more than 40 practitioners in Changchun have been arrested by the CCP. Most of these practitioners and their family members were previously harassed by phone calls or visits by personnel from local police stations or the community. Some practitioners' supervisors or colleagues at work were also harassed by phone calls and visits by these people, which severely interfered with the normal life and work of practitioners, their families and colleagues, and caused resentment and opposition from people in society.