(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline, in July 1999. Millions of Falun Gong practitioners have since been subjected to detention, brutal torture, imprisonment, and forced labor during the past 21 years.
In recent years, the CCP has been directing community officials and police to carry out large scale harassment of Falun Gong practitioners and collect their personal information, including their facial and body features, blood and DNA samples. Many officials also attempted to force the practitioners to renounce their faith and threatened to arrest the practitioners if they didn’t comply.
Below are some harassment cases of practitioners in the provinces of Sichuan, Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang.
Retired Teacher Harassed in Sichuan
Ms. Dai Gongqiu is a retired teacher of Longfeng Middle School in Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province. The assistant principal and the CCP secretary of her school visited her with some presents on July 4, 2020. After a brief greeting, they took out a prepared statement to renounce Falun Gong and asked her to sign it.
Ms. Dai told them how practicing Falun Gong has kept her healthy for the past two decades. She asked them, “I became a better person and did not do anything wrong. How do you want me to change?”
Seeing that Ms. Dai was resolute in upholding her faith, the school officials threatened to suspend her pension, knowing that she has a disabled child who is heavily relying on her. Ms. Dai still refused to comply.
Disabled Woman Harassed by Police in Shandong
Ms. Wang Xinhua, in her 40s, is a resident of a village in Lanwu District, Jinan City, Shandong Province. Disabled from poliomyelitis when she was little, Ms. Wang used to have difficulty walking. She was cured and walks normally now, after taking up Falun Gong in 2012.
In June 2020, the police from Chengxi Police Station of Lianwu District called her four times and harassed her at home to pressure her to give up Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang’s family was scared due to the police’s intimidation. Her mother blamed and cursed her. Her father, who had always adored and loved her, now became upset with her. He and her husband cursed and beat her up.
Four Practitioners Harassed in a Township in Hebei
Mr. Liu Zongli, a practitioner of Xuzhuang Township, Hengshui City, Hebei Province, was summoned to the village office on June 22, 2020. The township Party secretary was waiting for him. He questioned Mr. Liu and demanded him to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. Mr. Liu refused.
At the request of two township officials, the Party secretary of another village in Xuzhuang Township, ordered Mr. Wang Pingjun and another practitioner, Ms. Qiao Changrong, to the village office in attempts to force them to sign the renunciation statements. None of the practitioners went to the office.
Liaoning Woman Repeatedly Harassed
Ms. Guo Qi lives in Shahekou District, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. Officials from her local residential committee called Ms. Guo and her mother (not a practitioner) several times in April and May of 2020 to harass them. One official went to their home, but they refused to open the door for her.
When one official knocked on their door again on July 2, Ms. Guo was not on alert at the time and opened the door. The official asked Ms. Guo if she still practices Falun Gong. Ms. Guo answered yes. So she asked Ms. Guo to go to their office to fill in some forms. Ms. Guo refused to go.
The official called Ms. Guo's home again the next day and asked her mother to tell Ms. Guo to go to their office. Ms. Guo's mother said no.
Practitioners of Jixi City, Heilongjiang Harassed
Falun Gong practitioners in Jixi City were harassed on a large scale in May 2020, as a part of a nationwide “Zero-out” campaign to force all Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith. The residential committee and the police called the practitioners, went to their homes or their workplaces to try to have them sign the statements to renounce Falun Gong. Some videotaped the practitioners during their visits.
When practitioners refused, they were threatened with job loss or pay cut. If practitioners were not around during these visits, the officials attempted to have the practitioners' family members or their supervisors sign the statements.
