Authorities in Hebei Townships Harass Falun Gong Practitioners Ahead of CCP National Congress

(Minghui.org) Authorities in nine townships of Li County, Hebei Province have been harassing local Falun Gong practitioners at home since early September 2022. Even those who have stopped practicing and families of deceased practitioners were not spared.

The harassment came only weeks before the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which is scheduled to open on October 16, as the authorities attempted to prevent Falun Gong practitioners across the country from speaking out during the political event.

With Beijing mostly surrounded by Hebei Province, the authorities spent significant effort targeting the practitioners there.

During most of the harassment incidents, the police took photos of the practitioners against their will. If the targeted practitioners weren’t home, the police took photos of their family members instead, as well as the exterior of their homes.

Some officers tore down Falun Gong related decorations at the practitioners’ homes. Some deceived the practitioners by saying that they were from the community offices, there to check their Health Code (an e-passport type of application that tracks one’s travel history and potential exposure to COVID-19), but without asking for their family members.

The harassment also brought tremendous mental distress to the practitioners’ families, and causEd discord between some practitioners and their families. The harassment of one practitioner, whose parent had a heart condition, rendered the parent unable to eat or sleep. Some practitioner’s children were under pressure when told that their parents were on the government’s blacklist.

Some villagers made casual comments about the practitioners when seeing them being visited by the police. Others tried to protect them by refusing to reveal their information to the police.

Despite the pressure, most practitioners resisted the harassment and tried to persuade the police to no longer participate in the persecution.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Sun Mingliang (孙明亮), secretary of Li County Political and Legal Affairs CommitteeZhang Guangya (张广亚), deputy secretary of Li County Political and Legal Affairs Committee: [phone], [phone], [phone]Tian Lihui (田丽辉), director of 610 Office: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)