(Minghui.org) At least 24 Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin City, Jilin Province, and two of their family members who don't practice Falun Gong were arrested on July 19, 2019, one day before the 20th anniversary of the onset of persecution of the spiritual practice by the Chinese communist regime.
Several other group arrests of Falun Gong practitioners have also been reported in the provinces of Sichuan, Hebei, Shandong, and Liaoning in July 2019.
The arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin City started as early as 2 a.m. on July 19. In Yongji County, the police and staff members of the 610 Office waited outside of the practitioners' homes starting the night before. One taxi driver said the police paid him to wait outside one practitioner's home in the middle of the night so that they could arrest him in the morning.
The police climbed over the fence of Mr. Song Deman's home at 2 a.m. and arrested him.
Half of the arrested practitioners had their homes ransacked and their Falun Gong materials and computers confiscated.
Mr. Chen Jihai's wife and Ms. Wang Yuping's husband, neither of whom practice Falun Gong, were also arrested when the police took away their spouses.
Ms. Wang's husband has been released. It's not clear whether Mr. Chen's wife is still in custody.
When Ms. Zhao Yuqin, in her 70s, urged the officers ransacking her home not to take part in the persecution, one of them said, “I just listen to the communist regime. I'm willing to do it even if I do incur retribution.”
