A Story of Looking for My Mother

(1)

Both my mother and I are Falun Dafa practitioners. Because she raised a banner in Tiananmen Square on April 14, my mother has not come back up to today. Due to their hunger strike, several Dafa practitioners who went to Tiananmen with my mother on the same day were released back home on April 30. They were again called to the local police station from home in the evening of May 10. Afterwards, they were sent to the police subdivision of Xicheng district. It was said that this action was related to a new policy from the internal police.

On the evening of May 13, a practitioner told me that my mother would probably be sent to a labor camp. Four people from the local police station and nineteen people from the police subdivision of Xicheng district had been sent to a labor camp. I was told to be prepared. I went to the police subdivision of Xicheng district to send clothes. The receptionist first said that I could not send the clothes without the paperwork. Later I asked to make a phone inquiry to the police chief and was told, the person has been dispatched, we do not know where the person was sent. I demanded their whereabouts. There was a kind person who helped me to get the information. Finally I got the news that the females were sent to Tiantanghe labor camp of Daxing County. The males were sent to Tuanhe. They were picked up on May 19. I called the local police station in the afternoon on the same day asking about the directions and visiting hours. A person told me that he would let me know by phone that evening. But he did not return my phone calls that evening. Three days later, the police chief of that station told me that those people were not under his supervision and we should ask Tiantanghe Labor Camp.

I went to Tiantanghe on June 3. I first went to Beijing Female Jail and heard that over ten people had already been sent to the first brigade. Finally I got my mothers whereabouts from the female brigade of Tiantanghe labor camp. The receptionist first made two phone calls to the chief, for orders, and then went inside to see him. Eventually he came out to see me after I had waited for over one hour. Accompanied by several other policemen, he told me that I could not send anything in, and that I had to wait for a notice that would reach to my home in two days. He also said that my mother was sent to Tiantanghe on May 26 and her relatives could only be allowed to see her after receiving the notice. The chiefs hidden meaning was: if my mother would not break with Falun Gong, she would not be allowed to see her relatives.

From April 16 to June 3, I did not receive any written notice from the police including the one that should be sent to relatives before sending someone to labor camp. If I had not looked for my mother, I would have not known her whereabouts. You can imagine that the other relatives (the non-practitioners) of the Falun Dafa practitioners would have no chance of knowing the whereabouts of our practitioners.

(2)

From June 3 to June 12, we still did not receive any notices. Therefore, together with the relatives of several other Dafa practitioners, I went to Tiantanghe to see what had happened. (there were practitioners and non-practitioners among us.) A husband of a fellow practitioner told the supervision chief, Falun Gong teaches people to be good, I do not feel shamed. From 9:00 in the morning on June 12, there were several other relatives of the Dafa practitioners coming to make inquiries one after another. The police repeated saying that go home and wait for the notice, we have a policy. But they would not tell us what the policy was.

At around 10:30, a few Dafa practitioners came to hand in their petition letters. At that moment, there were around thirty practitioners and the relatives. The police were very busy, taking pictures of the practitioners from a distance with whole and middle ranged scenes.

At around 12:00, four or five police cars and a bus came. The police wanted to take the practitioners away. A female practitioner and I refused to get onto the bus since we did not think of doing anything wrong. But we were forced onto the bus and were sent to a detention center in Daxing County. A few practitioners and I were beaten for not being willing to enter the detention center. After 5:00 in the afternoon, a local policeman from my area recognized me. A senior official of the city police office said, she came to see her mother, send her back. The local policeman took me back to his station and did not let me go home. I tried to leave and was taken back and beaten. At 2:00 in the morning, the police went upstairs to sleep and told me to wait for the station chiefs permission to leave. The chief told me to wait for a while but did not came back that night. In the morning of the second day, another chief came. I left the police station at 12:00 on the noon. I was detained for eighteen hours at the police station without food.

June 18, 2000