At about 9 am on October 26, 2000, I went to the Memorial Monument on Tiananmen Square. At this time I saw, in the southeast corner of the square, 7 to 8 young men beating a woman about 40 years old. After she was knocked to the ground, she was dragged by her feet for several meters. Then more people came along and started to beat her. Surprisingly, there were two uniformed policemen in the mob. They used a portable two-way radio to strike the mouth and face of the woman. The incident lasted for over 10 minutes.
I couldn't help but shout, "don't beat people". Immediately, a plain-clothed policeman rushed to me and said: "Who are you?! Mind your own business, if you interfere again, I will take you away! Who else saw a beating here?" Then he started to interrogate me, and asked me if I ever practiced Falun Gong. I left the spot and looked on from the Memorial Monument. I saw that there were groups of 3 to 5 plain-clothed officers every few meters on the square, which totaled at least a thousand police officers. Many buses were parked around the Square; some were full of military police. Some of the buses were filled to capacity with young men about 18 years old. It was easy to see that they were not very experienced. Later, I talked to one young man. He told me that he was from Henan Province, had come to Beijing to find work, and had been hired by the Public Security to "execute public duties".
Between 10 AM and 12 PM I heard, one after another, someone shouting loudly "Falun Dafa is good!" This happened at least 10 times. Most of these people were between 40 to 60 years old. I saw that every time one or two people shouted, more than 10 policemen would rush to surround and attack the person, knock them to the ground, drag them to a bus, and drive them away.
The most moving and tragic scene appeared around 1:00 PM when about a hundred people started to shout loudly "Falun Dafa is good!" They weren't standing close together, but had mingled with tourists. They simultaneously displayed posters that said "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance". At the same time, at least ten people threw Dafa material into the crowd. Then plain-clothed and uniformed policemen swarmed onto the square, surrounded the Dafa practitioners, and started beating them. Some uniformed police also instructed many young hooligans to viciously beat Dafa practitioners.
The Dafa practitioners who were knocked down were not afraid. They did not fight back when beaten or sworn at and they continued to shout "Falun Dafa is good" "Falun Dafa is righteous". A middle-aged woman was holding an infant less than a year old. She and another 20-year-old woman had tried to display a poster when over 10 young policemen knocked them down. The infant hit the ground and started to cry. I ran over to pick up the baby. A plain-clothed policeman picked the infant up before I could do it. I finally saw a policeman with conscience.
This horrifying scene was over in about 10 minutes. Unarmed Falun Gong practitioners were quickly put into several large buses and taken away. The words "Falun Dafa is good" continuously came from the buses as they drove away.
My heart was trembling. How could police, hooligas, and plain-clothed officers simultaneously beat kind-hearted seniors and women in such a dignified place as Tiananmen Square, and under the watch of so many people? I couldn't help crying. This in turn incurred rude scolding and being searched by many plain-clothed officers.
Are these the activities of the Party and the government that I have extolled and followed for several decades?
A Witness
October 29, 2000
