[Minghui Net]

I am a Falun Dafa practitioner from the southern part of China. I am writing to tell people about my experience of guarding the Fa and to expose the inhumane conduct of those without righteous minds. I want to tell people that the claim that this is "the golden time of human rights in China " is a lie.

I took a train to Beijing two days before the Chinese lunar New Year and arrived on the morning of New Year's Day. The stores were all closed on the holiday. Cold and hungry, I walked for three hours to Qianmen (near Tiananmen Square). After a short break, I went to Tiananmen Square. I wandered around the square among the tourists, but didn't find any other practitioners.

In the afternoon, I approached the Golden Water Bridge (right in front of the buildings on Tiananmen). Facing flocks of policemen and plainclothesmen, I felt calm in my heart. I unfurled a banner that said, "Falun Dafa is the Righteous Law" and shouted from the bottom of my heart "Falun Dafa is Good. Restore the reputation of Teacher Li." Meanwhile, I saw other practitioners also spreading their banners. Voices of Dafa echoed in Tiananmen Square. Suddenly, angry policemen rushed over and ordered us into a waiting van that took us to a nearby police station. The police thought that we must be "the headstrong ones" to have left our families and come to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa on Chinese New Year's Day. They adopted the most brutal measures toward us. Not asking questions, they made us stand against a wall. One strong policeman used his boot to kick a young man several times in the chest. The young man, perhaps a college student, curled up on the ground in pain. My heart ached at the scene. How could the "people's police" be so savage? This time I saw it with my own eyes.

Later, we were detained separately. I was transferred to a police station, the name of which I didn't know. Then my nine-day persecution began. The policemen went home to enjoy the New Year holiday after locking me, a woman in her 60's, in a small bathroom with neither food nor water--only a small stool. They said fiercely: "Don't you have energy power through the practice of Falun Gong? You don't have to eat. You don't need protection from the cold."

Coming from the southern part of China, I had not experienced a winter with temperatures below -10oC (14oF). During the next nine days, my only food consisted of four packs of instant noodles. I had to remain in a standing position, facing the white tile. There was no way to sleep. The air was damp and freezing cold. My hands and feet gradually turned black and numb. Because I was standing all day and all night, my legs became swollen. The cold wind pierced my heart. After five days of this brutal persecution, I thought I would freeze to death. A thought came to my mind: I must not die. I must get out alive to tell people what I had experienced.

So I finally gave the police my name and address. They contacted the police in my hometown to come and escort me back. If they had any human hearts left, they should have taken me from the toilet first, then escorted me back. But the police from my hometown toured Beijing for four days before coming for me. When they finally came to pick me up, I had been in the bathroom for nine days. My whole body was stiff and paralyzed, and I felt like I was near death. I had no idea how I was taken to the van, or how I boarded the plane. Seeing my state in my hometown detention center, my family strongly urged the police to set me free. After fleecing tens of thousands of Yuan (Chinese currency, the average income of a city worker is about 500 Yuan per month) from my family, they agreed to let me go.

I am gradually recovering. At present, my joints are still stiff. Through this experience I saw clearly the true face of the authorities. They put tens of thousands of innocent people in jail for fear of losing power and personal interests. We only went to Tiananmen Square to say Falun Dafa is good. It is a freedom of speech granted by the constitution, yet we received such persecution. The police overlook the law, detain people illegally, and violate human rights at will. My experience strengthened my will to practice Falun Dafa. We will continue to validate the Fa and tell people the truth. I believe the day will come when the Fa is vindicated.

Written by a practitioner on Mainland China