The Falun Dafa Practitioners from Macheng, Hubei Province have engaged in activities to explain and clarify facts about the extremely unfair and unjust treatment, received by Falun Dafa and its practitioners, to those who had believed the government propaganda. However, some unscrupulous officers of the Public Security Bureau, in certain areas, apparently recognized that this was an opportunity to generate income. They arrested the practitioners for lawful actions that are protected rights guaranteed by the Chinese constitution, on unfounded charges such as "disseminating anti-society flyers," and "disturbing public order." The police arrested them, beat them, locked them up, and then fined them large sums of money.
Here are some examples from Macheng, Hubei Province, which may shed some light upon true purpose of the local authorities.
In mid-August 2000, some practitioners from Macheng photocopied materials to correct the false evidence that had been broadcast by China Central Television (CCTV,) since July 20, 1999. Their intent was to distribute these articles, explaining the true facts about Falun Dafa, to their relatives and other people. The police arrested them even though some of them had not distributed even a single sheet of the material. More than twenty of them were detained, interrogated and tortured in the detention center. Each one of them was required to pay Y3,000 (Chinese dollars, about six month salary of an averaged worker in cities of China) or more as a "bail bond." The charges under which the police arrested the practitioners were totally unfounded, and the practitioners should not have been detained for more than 15 days if formal charges were not filed. Chinese law, in this situation, did not warrant collection of the so-called "bail bond".
A female practitioner named Xu was arrested and detained by the Public Security Bureaus Longyu Station, when she was photocopying some flyers in a copying shop. The police interrogated her, but did not get what they wanted. They hung her up by the hands and beat her with a police baton over 100 times. The police also poured skin lotion into her eyes so she could not open them. Two practitioners from Xu's village were also arrested and jailed at the same time. After about a week, the station demanded fines of Y3,000 from their families and released the three practitioners to their homes. The following day, the police arrived at their homes and took them away, claiming that their superiors had not agreed to the release. The police stated that they could let them go home to spend the night, but they had to detain them during the daytime. The family would have to pay another fine to obtain a total release. When confronted by the family members about the beatings of the practitioners and the deceptive practices, the police station denied that they ever did it and blamed the detention center. The police had nothing to say to explain the exorbitant fines.
There was a practitioner named Liu who received a concussion after many blows to his head, back, hands and arms with a baton, by the police from Gulou Police Station. He bled a lot, and vomited for several days after the beating. Mr. Liu was silent in his suffering so as not to allow other practitioners to notice his condition. During his interrogation the police threatened him by destroying his book, Zhuan Falun (the main teachings of Falun Dafa). Then they tore the book apart page by page in front of him, which was devastating to his spiritual belief. Two female practitioners were sent to Gulou from Tiemen Station. The Station took their grain, farm cattle and television set away because they were unable to pay their fine.
The police from Baiguozhen Station were much greedier. They asked for Y16,000 from each detained practitioner. Those who were unable to come up with the money had their valuable belongings taken from their homes. One cruel act committed by the local police was that they tied several practitioners to a motorcycle and dragged them for several miles from downtown to the detention site.
For the past year, all the practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal to the government were strip-searched. All their money was confiscated and never returned to them. Some of them were tortured for several hours consecutively. A female practitioner named Hu received the worst beating. Starting at 9:00 p.m., three policemen took turns beating and kicking her for more than four hours. She went to Beijing in the middle of February this year, was arrested, jailed, and not released until August 30. She is divorced and has an 8-year-old daughter in the second grade. Her ex-husband is working elsewhere. Hu's relatives and friends went to the Police Station and Government 610 Office (Complaint-Receiving Bureau) many times to request the Hus release based on the lack of care for her daughter. Both offices ignored the requests, and they also made accusations against the person who was going to care for Hu's daughter. When Hu was released, she did not have a home or a job but the Station still charged her Y2,500.
Some employees from the local police stations told the practitioners and their relatives: "The city government has told us that we don't have to follow any laws when dealing with Falun Gong. So, you can sue us as you please."
If the police think what they do is right, why did they pour skin lotion into the practitioner's eyes before beating her? (editors note: so she could not identify them) Why do they deny that they beat people? The national policy is distorted when they implement it. The local government and their employees should wake up and listen to what the practitioners have to tell them: Have you used excessive force? Does your conduct fit your status? Does your conduct hurt the image of the people's police and government officers? When ordinary people see what the police have done, they will shake their heads and cry: "What an awful time we are living in!" Most law enforcement officers would also say the same thing. But the law enforcement officers who did not participate in the beatings also failed to stop their colleagues from mistreating Falun Dafa practitioners. Won't they be regretful for their indifference when the truth returns to this world?
Regardless of their treatment by the police, practitioners have no complaints or hatred against them. They have no regrets, either. They have used every tribulation as an opportunity to get rid of their attachments. Torture and monetary fines will not shake their belief in Falun Dafa, the universal truth. They are a group of true practitioners who are relinquishing, or have relinquished all the human attachments including life and death. They are still peacefully waiting for the change of mind from their government.
Practitioner in Mainland China
September, 2000
