(Clearwisdom.net) At about 7 a.m. on April 13, 2000, four of us went to the National Appeals Office to report the facts about our health improvements and moral upgrading after practicing Falun Gong, as well as Falun Gong being beneficial to both the country and the people. We hoped the leaders of the country could look into the situation of the people, actively correct the wrong decision of suppressing Falun Gong and give practitioners a just and reasonable cultivation environment.
However, when we walked to the entrance by the street where the Appeal Office is located, we found about 100 people blocking the entrance. Later, we heard that there is about 200 meters between the entrance and the Appeals Office. When we approached the entrance, someone asked harshly, "Stop! What are you doing?" A Dafa practitioner answered, "Appealing." He asked again, "Are you Falun Gong?" The practitioner answered, "Yes." The plain-clothes policeman asking the question said, "Falun Gong is not allowed to appeal. There is no problem to appeal for other things." At the same time, several persons watching us immediately stopped us from going anywhere. One of them even hit a male practitioner's face. However, the practitioners still answered their questions with a kind and pleasant countenance. Meanwhile, the practitioners observed that the people appealing for other things were allowed to enter the office. Only Falun Gong practitioners were barred from appealing. Moreover, Falun Gong practitioners were arrested without any reason, beaten, held and persecuted. Later, a conversation with the police revealed those 100 people were all plainclothes police. All the appeal offices in Beijing were conducted this way. During those initial days of the persecution, there were many Falun Gong practitioners appealing and going to Tiananmen Square.
The local police who took us back said, "After you go back, you should go to work if you have jobs!" However, we were directly sent to the local detention center. The Constitution clearly provides citizens the freedom of belief and the right to appeal. It is our civil right. Why are Falun Gong practitioners' freedom of belief and appealing rights unjustly deprived?
