Latest News from China - 02/21/2000

[Guangdong, February 21, 2000] Group Practice Interfered By Police in Meizhou City

At 9am of February 9, about 2,000 practitioners from Meizhou City of Guangdong Province gathered in the central park of Meizhou City attempting to practice Falun Gong exercises together. Crowds of people were on the street. However, the police officers had already started to guard the street since the very early morning, so practitioners were not able to do the exercises. Some practitioners were arrested.

[Hubei, February 21, 2000] Practitioners in Wuhan City Detained in Mental Hospital and Imposed Fines

Many practitioners in Wuhan City who continued to practice Falun Gong outdoors were each required to pay a deposit of 3,000 Yuan. The authorities resumed the "transformation class" for practitioners, who were demanded to write a pledge that they would not go to Beijing to appeal and not practice Falun Gong in public areas. It was said that those who could not be transformed during the class would be severely punished.

Two practitioners were sent to mental hospital. One of them got released a couple of days ago.

[Beijing, February 21, 2000] Practitioners Continued to Unfurl Banners of Falun Dafa on Tiananmen Square To Appeal to The Government

On February 14, 2000, practitioners Yang Hong-jun, Li Chun-lin and Tan Hai-dong unfurled two banners of Falun Dafa on the Tiananmen Square. The two banners read "Return Innocence to Falun Dafa" and "Falun Dafa is Righteous". Yang Hong-jun said that on the same day, 9 other practitioners from Guangzhou, Anhui, and Shanghai etc unfurled a 15-feet-long banner reading "Falun Dafa, truthfulness-benevolence-forbearance" on the Tiananmen Square. Practitioners from Fang-shan District of Beijing unfurled a 12-feet-long banner reading "Falun Gong Lives Forever". There were also practitioner from Jiang-xi, Shandong, and Northeastern Provinces joining the brave act.

About 10 seconds after Yang Hong-jun, Li Chun-lin and Tan Hai-dong unfurled the banners, they were beaten up and detained for interrogation separately.

According to Yang Hong-jun, the police officer that interrogated him said that his sister-in-law was also a Falun Dafa practitioner and he sent food and other things to practitioners regularly, therefore, he needed 300 Yuan from him to buy things for practitioners. Yang Hong-jun was moved by this police officer's words and gave him 300 Yuan regardless of whether he told truth or not.