| Index | Previous | Next |
Chapter 3 Mass Arrest and Police Brutality
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.1 MASS ARREST OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS WHO WENT TO APPEAL
3.2 MASS ARREST OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS WHO APPEALED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOLLOWING THE NATIONWIDE ARRESTS OF FALUN GONG
COORDINATORS ON JULY 20, 1999
3.3 MASS ARREST OF FALUN GONG COORDINATORS AROUND CHINA ON JULY 20 AND JULY 21, 1999
3.4 ARBITRARY ARREST OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS
3.5 ARRESTS AND POLICE BRUTALITY ON OVERSEA FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS IN CHINA
3.1 MASS ARREST OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS WHO WENT TO APPEAL
3.1.1 Mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen Square on Chinese New Year Eve
3.1.2 Over 7,000 practitioners sent to the Changping Detention Center
on Lunar New Year’s Eve
3.1.3 The Chinese government steps up its effort to persecute Falun Gong practitioners
- the experience of several Chinese practitioners on Tiananmen
3.1.4 Practitioners were arrested when appealing to the National People’s Congress
3.1.5 Three hundred practitioners were detained on Tiananmen Square;
Police in Beijing arrested Falun Gong practitioners
3.1.6 Five thousand Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Beijing
3.2.1 News from China
3.2.2 Over 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners were detained without water,
food and toilet for more than 48 hours
3.2.3 A thousand Falun Gong practitioners were held without food or water
3.2.4 Arrested Falun Gong practitioners transferred to northeast China in a train
3.2.5 Several hundred practitioners that went to Beijing to appeal were arrested
3.2.6 One will be under arrest if went to Beijing appealing
3.2.7 Even Falun Gong practitioners’ family members were detained
3.2.8 The continuing appeal in Beijing
3.2.9 Appealing Falun Gong practitioners were dispersed
3.2.10 Practitioners in Dalian were arrested and beaten when appealing to the
government
3.2.11 Practitioners were arrested when appealing to government in Wuhan, Hubei Province
3.2.12 Police searched for Falun Gong books in several practice sites
3.2.13 Two hundred kunming practitioners were held in second Heilingpu Xishan High School
3.2.14 Around 10,000 practitioners beaten by police
3.2.15 Around 10,000 practitioners were held in Shenyang Stadium
3.2.16 Around 10,000 Practitioners were held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province
3.2.17 In Shanghai, 400 Falun Gong practitioners were taken away
3.2.18 We were taken away by bus and detained for peaceful appeal
3.2.19 Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners arrested
when appealing to government in Beijing and other provinces of China
3.2.20 Tens of thousand Falun Gong practitioners arrested
when appealing to government in Guangdong Province
3.2.21 Falun Gong practitioners arrested
when appealing to the government in Dalian, Beijing, Tianjin and Changchun
3.2.22 Practitioners beaten and kicked by police
3.2.23 Our clothes were torn as police dragged us
3.2.24 Pushed into police car for peaceful appeal
3.2.25 On-the-spot report concerning Dalian Falun Gong
practitioner’s appealing on July 20, 1999
3.2.26 Things that were too horrible to watch
3.2.27 “This is the first time for me to see policemen beat people like this”
3.3 MASS ARREST OF FALUN GONG COORDINATORS AROUND CHINA ON JULY 20 AND JULY 21, 1999
3.3.1 Falun Dafa practitioners were detained in Hebei Province
3.3.2 Sixty two Falun Dafa assistants in Tianjin were under constant surveillance
3.3.3 Contact persons in Hefei detained
3.3.4 Falun Dafa practitioners were detained in Baoding City
3.3.5 Falun Dafa practitioners detained in Cangzhou City
3.3.6 Falun Dafa practitioners were detained in Tangshan City
and properties were confiscated
3.3.7 Falun Dafa coordinators were detained in Zhangjiakou City
3.3.8 Falun Dafa coordinators were detained in Harbin City
3.3.9 Falun Dafa coordinators were detained in Daqing City
3.3.10 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Jiamusi City
3.3.11 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Mudanjiang City
3.3.12 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Huangshi City
3.3.13 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Suizhou City
3.3.14 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Wuhan City
3.3.15 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Changsha City
3.3.16 Falun Dafa coordinator was detained in Changchun City
3.3.17 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Kunming City
3.3.18 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Liaoning Province
3.3.19 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Jiangzhou City
3.3.20 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Jinan City
3.3.21 The Falun Dafa coordinators were detained in Pinggu county, Beijing
3.3.22 Falun Gong practitioners were missing in Weifang City
3.3.23 Falun Gong coordinator was detained in Taiyuan City
3.3.24 Two thousand Falun Gong practitioners went to the province government
to appeal in Taiyuan City
3.3.25 All Falun Dafa web pages were blocked and not accessible in Xi’an City
3.3.26 Falun Gong coordinators were detained in Chongqing City
3.3.27 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Tianjin City
3.3.28 Falun Dafa coordinators were detained in Shijiazhuang City
3.4 ARBITRARY ARREST OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS
3.4.1 Many practitioners still being detained
3.4.2 China arrested practitioners who co-signed the open letter
to the National People’s Congress
3.4.3 Authorities forcing a pregnant practitioner to have an abortion
in order to detain her for longer term
3.4.4 Practitioners calmly endure all persecutions
3.4.5 Practitioners arrested during Jiang Zemin’s visit; some still in police custody
3.4.6 Practitioners arrested for copying a Falun Gong open letter
3.4.7 Help! pregnant woman still in custody
3.4.8 Suppression on Falun Gong intensified before the “Two Conferences”
3.4.9 Falun Gong practitioners out of water and electricity
3.4.10 Practitioners arrested during a discussion in a park
3.4.11 Over 400 practitioners in detention
3.4.12 Practitioners arrested when spreading Falun Gong
3.4.13 Police detained some practitioners because Chinese president visited
Shenzhen City
3.4.14 Police arbitrarily arrested Falun Gong practitioners in Shijiazhuang City
3.4.15 Practitioners unfurl banners of Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square
to appeal to the Government
3.4.16 Arbitrarily detention; stiff fines; confiscating personal properties
3.4.17 Practitioners arrested, removed from their posts
3.4.18 Practitioners in Guiyang arrested for reading “Zhuan Falun” on the train
3.4.19 Practitioners detained for practicing Falun Gong exercises in public
3.4.20 Eight Falun Gong practitioners were arrested when practicing exercises
in a park
3.4.21 Chengdu police arrested many practitioners
3.4.22 About 70 Falun Gong practitioners detained in
a drug rehabilitation center of Dalian city
3.4.23 Over two hundred Falun Gong practitioners arrested during a Falun Gong conference
3.4.24 Some Falun Gong practitioners were taken away
from their homes when doing meditation
3.4.25 A Department of Security Official of Hebei province
jailed for appealing for Falun Gong
3.4.26 President of Architecture Institute arrested for supporting Falun Gong
3.4.27 Practitioner detained for doing exercises at home
3.4.28 Key contact person of Falun Gong in Dalian City was secretly sentenced
to 9 years in jail
3.4.29 Falun Gong members was beaten when jailed
3.4.30 More than one hundred practitioners were detained in Changchun City
3.4.31 Practitioners in Shijiazhuang arrested when doing group practice
3.4.32 Practitioners in Shijiazhuang were sentenced
3.4.33 Practitioners in Chengdu City were sentenced before the Chinese New Year
3.4.34 Persecutions in Changsha, Hunan Province
3.4.35 Kept in Police Custody for Being Uncertain about Whether to Go to Beijing to Appeal
3.4.36 Persecutions in Nanyang, Henan Province
3.4.37 More persecutions against Falun Gong practitioners in Chengdu City:
detention of family members, homes ransacked, 18-19 hours of hard labor,
tortures, humiliations, and fines
3.4.38 Practitioners in Xiangyang and Liaoyuan were detained
3.4.39 Detention in Changchun Women’s Jail
3.4.40 Former hospital president were brainwashed and persecuted
for practicing Falun Gong
3.4.41 Over two thousand appealing practitioners
from Shandong Province have been escorted back from Beijing
3.4.42 A Professor of Sichuan University, Hong Jirong, was sentenced to three years
of forced labor for writing an appealing letter to Mr. Annan
3.4.43 Six practitioners from Sichuan Province who went to Beijing to appeal
were given criminal detention and waiting for possible sentence
3.4.44 Song Bangfu went to Beijing to appeal was arrested and sentenced
to 3 years forced labor “education”
3.4.45 Practitioner from Yancheng City detained for holding up a Falun Gong banner
in Tiananmen Square on New Year’s day
3.4.46 Jiangsu Province practitioners urge the government
to stop violating the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners
3.4.47 Seven practitioners arrested in Zhongshan at a picnic with local practitioners,
all detained in Guangzhou
3.4.48 Daqing practitioners were arrested for signing an open appealing letter to
the Chinese authorities
3.4.49 A major of the armed police force is being detained
in Shandong province for appealing for Falun Gong
3.4.50 Chengdu Falun Gong practitioners were detained for practicing Falun Gong
3.4.51 More than a hundred Falun Gong practitioners in Meizhou
practiced outdoor exercises were taken away by police
3.4.52 Falun Gong practitioners in Xinjiang Province went to Beijing to appeal
3.4.53 The police interrogated and arrested several dozens of people
in the tightly guarded Tiananmen Square
3.4.54 Zhang Chunqing, Zhu Hang, and other practitioners are suffering
further persecution for exposing police torture they suffered before
3.4.55 Practitioners from Zhejiang Province arrested for going to Beijing to
appeal
3.4.56 Practitioners from Sichuan province were given criminal detention
to prevent them from going to Beijing to appeal
3.4.57 Four practitioners arrested for leaking the news that a detained
Falun Gong practitioner had been tortured to death by police
3.4.58 Practitioner sent to labor camp for practicing
Falun Gong exercise in Tiananmen Square
3.4.59 Falun Gong practitioners from Hebei Province
sentenced to the labor camp because of going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong
3.4.60 The experience of 35 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing for appeal
3.4.61 Macao resident arrested in Guangzhou
3.4.62 Falun Gong practitioners in Huaiyin arrested and detained
3.4.63 AP report: 35,792 Falun Gong Practitioners detained
3.4.64 Chinese government reports 35,792 Falun Gong Practitioners detained
3.4.65 Practitioners sentenced to re-education through forced Labor in Heilongjiang Province
3.4.66 Four Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to imprisonment in Hainan Province
3.4.67 Persecution to Falun Gong practitioners in Wuhan city
3.4.68 A Ph.D. candidate of Chinese Academy of Sciences was detained
3.4.69 Practitioners from Beijing, Guangdong, Liaoning Provinces
arrested and detained for their appeal
3.4.70 Arrested from Home for Continuing Practice Falun Gong
3.4.71 Arrested for being Falun Gong Practitioners
3.4.72 Everyday hundreds of practitioners from all over the country
are detained for their appeal to the central government
3.4.73 Falun Gong practitioners arrested in Beijing for petition
3.4.74 Cheng Shuhua’s experience
3.4.75 Practitioner detained for not renouncing from Falun Gong
3.4.76 Dong Zhiguo has been detained since October 2, 1999
3.4.77 Practitioners went to Beijing to appeal were detained
3.4.78 Shangdong Province---Trapping and arresting practitioners
for the National Day Celebration Ceremony
3.4.79 We are not allowed to practice in park
3.4.80 Two students from Shanghai Jiaotong University disappeared
3.4.81 In April, 1999 Falun Gong practitioners appealed in Tianjin
3.5 ARRESTS AND POLICE BRUTALITY ON OVERSEA FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS IN CHINA
3.5.1 She was arrested when visiting other practitioners in an apartment in Beijing
3.5.2 Many practitioners from Japan rejected, detained, fined, beaten in China
3.5.3 Reports from AP and Reuters
3.5.4 Practitioners from Japan Arrested by Chinese Police
3.5.5 China may deport American protester (The Washington Post)
3.5.6 Jersey Woman Back Home after Jailing in China
3.5.7 An American citizen arrested in Chengdu City
3.5.8 Falun Gong practitioners were prevented from returning to Ireland to study
3.5.9 Practitioners from Tokyo arrested when practicing Falun Gong in Tiananmen
Square
3.5.10 Three detained Australian Falun Dong practitioners escorted out of China
3.5.11 An AP report from Australia
3.5.12 Three Falun Gong practitioners from Singapore Detained in Beijing
3.5.13 US residents charged, arrested, and jailed for “disruption of social order”
by chatting with friends in a private home
3.5.14 China’s crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement is tearing a suburban
Denver family apart - and motivating U.S.-based Chinese supporters to fight back
3.5.15 December 1999 - China’s crackdown on the Falun Gong is tearing suburban
Denver family apart
3.5.16 Three Falun Gong practitioners from Australia arrested on Tiananmen Square
3.5.17 Macao resident arrested in China for practicing Falun Gong
3.5.18 A personal view of China’s crackdown on Falun Gong
3.5.19 Jimmy Zou, USA Falun Gong practitioners’ experience in Beijing
3.5.20 Falun Gong practitioners From Australia, Sweden, US were arrested in Guangzhou
3.5.21 Australia Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested and Tortured in China
3.5.22 USA Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested and Tortured in China
3.5.23 Maltreatment of Canadian Falun Gong practitioners when they visited
China for peaceful appeal
3.5.24 Falun Gong practitioners from Japan arrested and tortured in China
3.5.25 Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners being arrested and tortured in China
3.5.26 Singapore Falun Gong practitioners being arrested and tortured in China
3.5.27 Macao Falun Gong practitioners being arrested and tortured in China
3.5.28 He was arrested twice in Beijing
3.1 Mass Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners Who Went to Appeal
3.1.1 Mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen Square on Chinese New Year Eve
Victims:
1. Bai Lili, female
2. Wang Shuge, female
3. Yu Tian
4. Zhao Qun
5. Xu Wei, female
6. Li Hongshen
7. Wang Youqun, female
8. Luo Lijuan
9. Fei Menlin
10. Ju Linyan
and other Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
Description:
On the night of February 4, 2000, the Chinese Lunar New Year Eve, many Falun Gong practitioners from the US, Australia, Japan and Mainland China gathered at Tiananmen Square to appeal to the Chinese central authorities to stop their brutal persecution of Falun Gong.
Uniformed police officers, plainclothes agents and armed policemen were all over the Square. People who passed by were questioned, searched and asked by the police whether they were Falun Gong practitioners. Some were taken to police vans without any reason. According to telephone reports from eyewitnesses in Beijing, many Falun Gong practitioners practiced the meditation exercises on the Tiananmen Square. Some of them raised banners reading “Falun Dafa” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” Police stationed in the square beat and arrested the practitioners.. There were bloodstains, clothes, and watches left on the ground. However, Falun Gong practitioners always maintained a peaceful manner.
At 11:00pm, in the center of the Square, two Beijing practitioners, Ms. Bai Lili and Ms. Wang Shuge, each held up a flag with the Falun emblem. While the police officers rushed over to seize the flags, the practitioners tried their best to protect the flags. They were pushed down to the ground and were beaten by the policemen. After they were taken to the police van, the policemen still kept slapping them in the face. Later, many practitioners on the Square held up banners reading, “Falun Dafa practitioners have no hatred or anger” and “Falun Dafa practitioners appeal to the government because they trust the government,” etc. They were beaten by the plainclothes agents and uniformed policemen and then taken to the Tiananmen Square police station.
A five-year-old practitioner, Yu Tian, held up a banner of Falun Dafa with his parents in the Square. The whole family was taken to the police van. Three practitioners from Linyi of Shandong Province, Zhao Qun, Xu Wei and Li Hongshen held up a banner on the Tiananmen Square last night. After about 20 seconds, 6 policemen rushed over and beat them to the ground. . The police tried to tear up the banners. Later, the three practitioners were taken to the police van by some other police officers. The four-year-old daughter of Xu Wei cried for her mother and was later taken to the police van.
At the northeastern corner of Tiananmen Square, more than 100 practitioners sat down simultaneously to do the sitting meditation after a 40-year-old woman said, “Sit down.” The police rushed over and beat these practitioners. They grabbed the hair of female practitioners and dragged them into the police van. A practitioner from Australia named Dai fell down to the ground after being kicked in the back three times by a policeman and was then taken to a police van. A practitioner from Linyi City of Shandong Province named Zhen was beaten, and there was blood on his face. A female practitioner from Hong Kong, Wang Youqun, was arrested at about 8:30pm while she was holding up a banner.
A practitioner in her teens who took photos on Tiananmen Square was also taken to the Tiananmen Square police station together with her friend (a daughter of a fellow practitioner). At that time, several hundred practitioners had already been detained there. The police exposed her film, but the bright teenager was able to save another film. Later, she managed to escape from the police station and told us her experience.
At 11:55pm, a lot of armed police officers rushed to Tiananmen Square from the direction of Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and History Museum. Meanwhile, uniformed policemen, plainclothes agents and armed policemen started to chase, beat and arrest practitioners. Practitioners kept holding up banners and practicing Falun Dafa exercises. Near us, a female practitioner from Shijiazhuang also held up a red banner. The police rushed to her. A dozen other practitioners came to surround her. Some practitioners were beaten to the ground. A Beijing practitioner named Luo Lijuan asked the police why they beat people. She and other practitioners tried to help those practitioners who fell to the ground, but they were also taken into the police vans. During the whole process, plainclothes agents of the government videotaped how they treated innocent and peaceful practitioners.
Practitioners from Bayan County of Heilongjiang province, Fei Menlin, Ju Linyan and the other four were taken to Tiananmen Square police station. As far as we know, about 100 practitioners from Linyi City of Shandong province were arrested. About 30 people from Shunyi County of Beijing were arrested. More than 40 practitioners from Shijiazhuang, Xinji and Lincheng, etc. who came with us were all arrested. Many practitioners from Jiangsu province were arrested in the hotel before they went to Tiananmen Square.
It was estimated that over 1,000 practitioners were arrested on Tiananmen Square on New Year’s Eve. At 1:00am on February 5, a witness saw at least 4 buses full of practitioners. Each bus had about 100 practitioners.
3.1.2 Over 7,000 practitioners sent to the Changping Detention Center on Lunar New Year’s Eve
Message received: February 16, 2000
Victims: Over 7,000 Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Changping Detention Center in Beijing, China
Description:
A government official in Beijing said that there were over 7,000 practitioners sent to the Changping Detention Center in Beijing on Chinese New Year’s Eve. Currently, the police are still arresting practitioners at home in order to find out the organizers of the New Year’s Eve protest on Tiananmen Square.
3.1.3 The Chinese government steps up its effort to persecute Falun Gong practitioners --the experience of several Chinese practitioners on Tiananmen
Message received: Oct 28, 1999
Victims: About 600 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing
Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Fengtai Stadium, Beijing, China
Description:
I am a Falun Gong practitioner. On Oct. 28, 1999, several fellow practitioners of Falun Dafa and I went to Tiananmen Square. Since the Chinese Government labeled Falun Gong a cult, we wanted to appeal to the government to express our opinions. The police asked us to get into a police van, and then drove us to the Tiananmen Square police station. When we arrived there, the rooms and the yard were full of practitioners taken here in a similar fashion.
When we recited poems from “Hong Yin” by Master Li together, the police ordered us to stop. When we continued to recite, they yelled, “Take this one out” whenever they discovered a practitioner with a louder voice or one who started a new poem. I saw several practitioners being pulled out and forced into a room. Among them, there were males and females. An old woman over 50 years old with gray hair was also pulled out simply because she said, “Falun Dafa is truly great.” I then heard the sound of people being hit, coming from the room. These practitioners were then forced to stand facing the wall. This continued for almost an hour. After that, we were taken to the Fengtai Stadium by bus.
At this time, there were about 600 practitioners being detained there. The number of policemen was about forty to fifty. The Fengtai Stadium is huge, but the police ordered us to sit with our legs split. A young male did not like to sit in such an indecent way, and he was kicked and hit by the police.. The police refused to let us go to the washroom, so two females had to use their coats as a cover to allow other female practitioners to go inside. After about an hour, the police ordered the practitioners to sit in the middle of the stadium together. Then the police stood in front of the practitioners, the one who looked like the leader shouted loudly, “You are already declared cult members, how can you still behave so!” Immediately, five or six young practitioners answered loudly, “We are not cult members.” I saw several policemen rush over and start to beat the practitioners who answered back.
It was about 1:00pm and the weather was really cold and windy. The practitioners did not wear much while the police were all wearing thick coats and leather shoes. They slapped the practitioners in the face, hit and kicked them with their fists and feet. I saw a couple of female practitioners in their early twenties, being kicked so severely that they could not even sit steadily. After the beating, the police ordered those who were beaten to sit together separately. An old woman in her sixties said Falun Dafa is not a cult, and was ordered to come out. A young male policeman kicked her right in her chest, and she fell to the ground. The practitioners yelled together, “You cannot hit senior citizens.” The police hit these innocent practitioners like this but none of those who were beaten ever cried out. They all endured the torture in silence. At about 3:00pm, the police started to register everyone. The Falun Dafa practitioners spent this day, from 8:00am to midnight cold and hungry. In the end, they were dispatched to local police substations or detention centers. What awaits them is another yet even more harsh “re-education.”
3.1.4 Practitioners were arrested when appealing to the National People’s Congress
Victims: Falun Gong practitioners who went to appeal
Location of incident: Outside the Hall of the National People’s Congress, Beijing, China
Description:
Many Falun Gong practitioners went to appeal to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. About 10:30am on October 28, there were about a dozen Falun Gong practitioners outside the Hall of the National People’s Congress. They were pushed into the police car before they could say anything. Some were beaten to the ground. Some female practitioners were pulled to the ground and dragged by their hair. After they were in the police car, the police continued to beat and kick them.
3.1.5 Three hundred practitioners were detained on Tiananmen Square; Police in Beijing arrested Falun Gong practitioners
Victims: 200-300 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing
Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
Description:
At about 7:00am, October 25, several fellow Falun Gong practitioners and I went to Tiananmen Square. After we walked on the square for a short while, two policemen stopped us and asked to see our Identification cards. I told them that I do not have mine with me and that I left it with someone else. They asked, “Are you Falun Gong practitioners and have you come here to appeal?” We said “yes”, then the policemen told us to follow them. I said I need to go to the washroom and refused to go with them. I started to walk away. The policemen stopped us, and would not let us go. They pulled our clothes and asked us to cooperate with them. They followed us closely and used a cellular phone to call for more policemen to come and surround us. A police vehicle drove following us. We were then taken into the police vehicle.
There were many police vehicles around Tiananmen Square waiting for captured Falun Gong practitioners. In less than 10 minutes, our vehicle became full. We were then sent to the Tiananmen Square Police Station. There, they interrogated and registered us. After the interrogation, they locked us in a room. In this room, we were not allowed to sit down but had to stand facing the wall. We could not talk, otherwise, they would swear at us. Shortly, the police forced us to take pictures, and then pasted the pictures on the name cards prepared after the interrogation. The cards were mailed back to the local police stations where we were from. At around 10:00am the police sent Chongqing practitioners to Chongqing Liaison Office in Beijing.
This morning, the Tiananmen Square Police Station alone held about two to three hundred practitioners. Rooms and the hallway were full of practitioners. Among them are elders with gray hair, youngsters and parents with children. Everyone looks at the policemen with a smile, allowing the police to decide what to do with them.
After we came to the Chongqing Liaison Office at Beijing, the police interrogated us and recorded our information carefully again. They confiscated our identification cards and ordered us to hand in all the money we had with us. They refused to let us go and prepared to send us to local detention centers where we would be held.
The police are arresting Falun Gong practitioners blindly like this everyday. They arrested many, many practitioners and violated our human rights. I am just one of the practitioners arrested in this way.
3.1.6 Five thousand Falun Gong practitioners were detained in Beijing
Message received: September 9, 1999
Victims: About 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners at Beijing
Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
Description:
On September 6, the police began to arrest Falun Dafa practitioners on Tiananmen Square. Many police in plain clothes would ask if you practice Falun Dafa. If the answer were yes, you would be taken away. Because practitioners never lie, the police claimed that it was easy to deal with Falun Gong practitioners.
On September 8, one room inside the police substation at Tiananmen Square held over 100 practitioners. Among them, there was a baby of 9 months and an elderly person over seventy. Because it was too crowded, people could not sit down all at once, so the practitioners took turns to sit down for a short rest.
Recently, there are almost 5,000 practitioners detained in Beijing. The police identified where they were from based on their accents, and separated them into 8 different detention centers. If one insisted on doing the exercises in the detention center, one would be continuously tortured. Some were taken to Shan Hai Guan, some were taken to gold mines in Shanxi Province, and some were taken to Hunan Province to do hard labor. The majority of the arrested practitioners wore thin clothing. Those who could not endure it were forced to inform their families, and were then sent home, but they had to pay 200 to 300 Yuan transportation fee.
| Index | Previous | Next |