Baoding City, Hebei Province: Nine Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day

(Minghui.org) Following a mass harassment of local Falun Gong practitioners in early September 2022, in Baoding City, Hebei Province, local police arrested nine practitioners in Jingxiu District at the same time (around 7 p.m.) on September 26. Another two practitioners had their homes ransacked but weren’t arrested.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The practitioners’ Falun Gong books, photos of the practice’s founder, computers, printers and DVD burners were confiscated. When the police took them to the police station, many documents had already been filled out. The practitioners’ families suspected that the police had tracked them down by monitoring their phone calls and came fully prepared for the sweep.

Ms. Li Sumei, a care worker in her 50s, was arrested while at work. The police then took her back home and filled two boxes with her Falun Gong related items. By then, another group of officers had already finished ransacking the home of her neighbor, Ms. Zang Yongkan, 52. 

Ms. Zang lives on her own, after her husband divorced her due to the persecution. She still visited her ex-mother-in-law very often and took care of her. The police left with two cars full of items taken from her. She was harassed several times prior to her arrest.

Both Ms. Li and Ms. Zang are currently held at the Qingyuan Detention Center and their arrests have been approved.

After more than ten officers broke into Mr. Wang Yamin’s home, they blocked the elderly man, who has difficulty walking, behind a few tables and then spent the next two hours raiding his home. When the man, in his 80s, asked the officers their names, they replied “Wang Xiaoer, Wang Xiaojun, and Li Sunshu,” which are commonly used fake names in China like “John Doe.”

A dozen officers broke into Ms. Zhang Shufang’s home while she and her husband were still having dinner. Their small home became very crowded with the presence of the officers. After the home raid, the police took Ms. Zhang, in her 70s, to the police station for interrogation and ordered her to sign the list of items confiscated. They gave her nine days of detention, but exempted her from serving it given her advanced age. She returned home after two hours at the police station. She went back there the next day and got back over ten of her Falun Gong books and a photo of Falun Gong’s founder.

Ms. Zhang Ximei, 54, had just been released in March 2022 after serving 3.5 years for practicing Falun Gong. The police harassed her one week before her latest arrest on September 26. She was held at the police station for two days before being taken to the Baoding City lockup, where she was detained for three days. 

Ms. Yang Xianxiang, Ms. Zhang’s mother in her 80s, had her home ransacked on the same day. Her computer, two cellphones and some Falun Gong books were confiscated.

Ms. Sun Shuling, 67, also had her home ransacked after the police broke in. Because her husband strongly protested and she was experiencing high blood pressure, the police didn’t arrest her.

Ms. Kang Shuping, 70, was threatened by the police with lengthy detention. When her son took her home later in the evening, the police ordered her to report back to them on the next day. She was terrified and has been hospitalized after developing a medical condition.

Other arrested practitioners were Ms. Huang Chun’ai, 63, Ms. Zhang Jinping and Ms. Li Xiuzhi. Both Ms. Huang and Ms. Zhang were forced to sign some documents before being released at midnight. 

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Wang Guangwei (王广维), head of Baoding City Public Security Bureau: [phone]Wang Lianyong (王连勇), chief of Jingxiu Police Station: [phone], [phone]Cao Jing (曹晶), chief of Jiezhuang Police Station: [phone]

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