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Latest News from China - 02/23/2000

February 24, 2000 |  

[Shanghai] The persecutions against Falun Gong practitioners in Shanghai are being implemented relentlessly but quietly to avoid international attention. In particular, the college students who are Falun Gong practitioners are facing the same unfair treatments and great pressures as practitioners in universities in Beijing. Some practitioners have been or are being detained for the well-known reasons. Information about the persecutions has been gradually spread out by people who do not practice Falun Gong. Many people have said that Falun Gong issue is an issue of thoughts and beliefs, but now the government is conducting a political campaign like "culture revolution". Although these people received a lot of propaganda from the government, they have already been very clear what the government is doing.

[Shijiazhuang] On the Chinese New Year's Eve, practitioners in Shijiazhuang held a group practice outside the Yanshan Hotel. Starting from the New Year's Day, the police started to investigate about the group practice and have not had any result. Currently, the local police started to arbitrarily arrest practitioners. Many practitioners got arrested and beaten up. The situation there is very harsh. A female practitioner's neck was injured from the torture.

Also, the authorities had already found out that more than 300 practitioners from Hebei province went to the Tiananmen Square to unfurl banners of Falun Dafa or practice Falun Gong exercises on the New Year's Eve. The Beijing government had already severely criticized Hebei authorities.

[Tianjin]

[1] Practitioners from Jia-yuan-li of Hong-qiao District in Tianjin City, Zhao Zhi-ming, Wang Ming, Mu Xiang-jie and Qi Lian-ge, were detained in the Hong-qiao Police substation after being arrested in Beijing. Because they refused to give up Falun Gong, they were sent to Ban-qiao labor camp in Da-gang District for up to two years of forced labor "education". At the end of January, Mu Xiang-jie was placed in confinement simply because she said, "please stand out to defend Falun Dafa!" during the morning "exercise". She was handcuffed to the banisters of the windows for 7 days and nights. She was not allowed to sleep. Moreover, her arms was shocked. After she got out of the confinement, she could not move her two legs. There were water bubbles on her arms caused by electric shocks.

[2] In the police station, if a practitioner practiced Falun Gong in the cell, he/she would be put on the heavy shackles of more than 40 pounds.

[3] At the end of last October, Qi Lian-ge and two other family members went to Beijing to appeal, with her mother left alone at home. The police went to ransack her home in a midnight. Her mother dared not open the door. Therefore, the police broke in from the windows and ransacked the home.

[4] In Tianjin, more than 70 practitioners got detained for 15 days to 30 days only because they said that they would continue to practice Falun Gong.

[5] At the beginning of last September, the second detention center of Tangshan City detained 40 practitioners. Many of them got arrested when they passed by the Tiananmen Square. After 15 days of administrative detention, the police still did not release them and prolonged their detention arbitrarily. They all went to Beijing to appeal again and got escorted back for the second time. In the detention center, they had been shocked by electric clubs and beaten up. Some practitioners' armpits were burned from electric shocks. Some practitioners' hands and feet were cuffed together for 8 days and nights. Ms. Xu Qiu-ling and Liu Ju-hua were once stripped off and forced to stand for two days and nights while they were detained in Beijing. A dozen of practitioners in Tangshan were sent to labor camps.

[6] The first detention center of Tangshan City tortured detained practitioners. A practitioner had been roped to a chair for 7 days and nights. Meanwhile, the police also extorted money from practitioners and their family members.

[7] The New District Detention Center of Tangshan City provided only one slice of steam bun (12g) to detained practitioners. The police said that the convicted criminals would be given enough food, but the practitioners should not.

[8] Practitioners from Tianjin, Kang Zhi-qiu, Wang Ming, and their daughter Kang Shi-yi, 8 years old, went to the Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Dafa on the Chinese New Year's Eve. They were escorted back to Tianjin City on the same night. The couple were handed criminal detention. Wang Ming started hunger strike to appeal justice for Falun Dafa and refused to sign any paperwork, because she thought that she had not done anything against the law. She was released three and a half days later. Later in order to recover the cultivation environment, Wang Ming continued to practice Falun Gong in public areas. She was detained for the second time. After her hands and feet were cuffed together for one day, she started hunger strike again and refused to sign any paperwork or make any confessions. Later she was sent to a mental hospital for an examination. The head of the police station said, "I know you are normal." The examination result was normal. Her husband and daughter went to the police station to appeal for her release. She got released right away. The 40 police officers were all moved by her determination. A police said, "What a good person she is!"