[Editorial] Tiananmen Square has now become the place where Jiang Zemin's fear, fury, and foolishness are being played out to the entire world. How can a person with great power allow his selfishness and personal interests to make him the enemy of his own people? Who is actually shaming China? Who is actually harming the Chinese nation? How long has it been since the Chinese people have been allowed to speak the truth?
Eyewitness Account #1 (10/6/00)
It was cloudy and gloomy on the morning of October 6 in Beijing and the fog became much worse at around 10:45am. In the square, there were many armed policemen, plainclothes police, and dozens of police vans and buses. Several buses filled with armed policemen parked in front of the Military Museum on the east side of the square. The police kept examining tourists, especially women with purses, to see if they had Dafa banners or other materials.
At about 11:00am, many practitioners unfolded banners in the center of the square. Five or six police cars drove by with their sirens sounding. Five or six squads of armed policemen in plainclothes began to beat the practitioners frenziedly. The first group of practitioners numbered more than 600. Many uniformed policemen drove tourists away, confiscated their film and cameras, and cleared the Square. They had to turn up the piped music to an extreme volume to cover up the voices of practitioners telling them "Falun Dafa is good!". Practitioners among the tourists kept unfurling banners and distributing flyers. The supervisors present ordered the plainclothes policemen to arrest practitioners. Dozens of plainclothes police were dashing around all over the Square.
Some practitioners fainted due to the beating; some fell to the ground and were kicked by the police; some had blood all over the faces; some were dragged into the vans by the plainclothes police; some were kicked against the bus and fell unconsciousIt was utterly inhumane. Practitioners continued to unfold banners and cry out "Falun Dafa is good!" after being pushed into the van, hoping to awaken people's long-numbed consciences. The police used 20 to 30 vans to remove practitioners from the Square. Street cleaning vehicles immediately cleaned up the belongings and blood left by the practitioners. The armed policemen in plainclothes then went back to their squads.
About 30 minutes later the square was reopened and tourists went to the center of the Square to take photos. About thirty seconds later, practitioners again unfolded banners and distributed flyers one after another. The police vans continued to move practitioners out of the Square. By 11:45 am when I left the Square, there were practitioners who were still being arrested.
Eyewitness Account #2 (10/5/00)
Many police were on duty on both the east and west Changan streets [the main streets leading to the square]. There were sentries posted every 10 meters. Armed policemen kept patrol and watched passing pedestrians alertly as if they were to find something from looking at people's faces and their bags. More police were sent to Jinshuiqiao [bridges on the north side of the square] and plainclothes police were mixing in with pedestrians. More than ten small police vehicles were parked on both sides of the square. Dozens of larger police vehicles and buses were parked behind the Monument, and some of them carried armed police and even soldiers.
At first glance, you would think that those people sitting on the cement borders of the flower gardens were tourists. But if you took a closer look, you would know that most of them were plainclothes police watching people lingering on the Square, and especially watching those who sat on the ground. Once they confirmed that someone was a Falun Gong practitioner, they would arrest him or her immediately. The armed police were very alert to people who had backpacks, and they frequently asked tourists to open their bags. The square is now filled with a murderous atmosphere due to the deployment of armed policemen and army units. Two policemen were overheard murmuring: "It's already 10:00am. Why haven't we seen any practitioners yet?" I knew that these deployments were carefully arranged to deal with the goodhearted and harmless practitioners.
At about 10:15am I suddenly heard someone shout: "Get out of the way!" and I saw four policemen carrying a practitioner who was shouting: "Falun Dafa is good." They walked rapidly from the center of the Square towards a police van parked on the East side. But this practitioner struggled very hard to get out of their grasp before he was put into the van and shouted at the surrounding crowd: "Falun Dafa is good!" A policeman grabbed hard at this practitioner's throat in order to stop him from making a noise and threw him into the van. At the same time, four other practitioners were also forced into the van. The curtains of the van were immediately pulled down and the van was driven off the Square. An empty police van quickly came to replace it. Then I noticed arrests on the West side of the Square so I ran over to take a look. I saw several policemen beating a practitioner who had fallen down from the police van. The police did not stop beating him until they had this practitioner in the van. Another practitioner in the van shouted: "Stop beating him!" Other policemen were busy dispersing the surrounding crowd (there were not many people around and they looked indifferent).
Teacher's words: "Validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, promote the Fa and offer people salvation with benevolence" (Rationality), kept popping up in my mind on my way home. I have only one thought: I will make good use of my environment and try my best to follow Teacher's words. I am one particle of Dafa and I should exert all my effort. I shall change myself as well as my surrounding environment; I shall make more friends and actively tell more people about the truth of the situation using all possible means. It seems that I was not quite myself until I went to Tiananmen Square.
Falun Dafa practitioner in Mainland China
October 5, 2000
Eyewitness Account #3 (10/6/00)
At 11:00am on October 6, after the peaceful appeal of about 4,000-5,000 practitioners in the Tiananmen Square was brutally suppressed, practitioners still kept coming to the Square to appeal. The Beijing police were extremely nervous and they kept patrolling the Square. At 5:00pm, the police arrested more than 50 practitioners from Shanxi and Guangxi Provinces.
Recently, the hotels in the suburbs of Beijing have experienced frequent and sudden checks by the police. All people without ID's are considered to be Falun Gong practitioners and are taken away.
Falun Dafa practitioner in Mainland China
October 7, 2000
Eyewitness Account #4 (10/7/00)
It was still foggy in Beijing on October 7, as if nature were pouring endless misery upon the people of this world. On October 6, the peaceful appeal of several thousands of practitioners in Tiananmen Square was suppressed. The next day, hundreds of practitioners from Shandong Province came to the square to appeal for Falun Gong and experienced another round of cruel persecution. At 11:50am on October 7, in front of the Statue of Sun Zhongshan (the founding father), a Shandong practitioner unfurled a banner reading "Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance" and dozens of practitioners simultaneously shouted, "Falun Dafa is good" and "Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa." Shortly thereafter, the armed police on duty in front of the Statue ran out to attack the practitioner who had held up the "Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance" banner. The police and some plainclothes policemen also swarmed all over him. A police van drove over with the windows covered with clothing, and practitioners were forced into the van.
The police slapped the faces of dozens of young practitioners because they kept repeating "Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa." They kept shouting even as their blood flowed onto the ground. A female practitioner from Weifang with a 4-month-old infant was also dragged into the police van. The cries of her child were really heart-breaking. When an onlooker asked a policeman why they were arresting people, the police answered: "They oppose Jiang Zemin." One witness even heard an officer making a phone call and saying: "Too many to arrests Send more policemen here."
This is yet another tragedy conducted by the malicious Jiang Zemin during the National Holiday. People with good hearts are being cruelly persecuted. Where can we find justice in the world?
Falun Dafa practitioner in Mainland China
October 7, 2000
