At 8:57am, a middle-aged man started to meditate on the center of the square. He was holding two Falun signs, which were immediately seized away by plainclothes agents. He then started to do the fifth set of exercise (Figure 1). Later he was thrown into the police van. This was only the beginning of the courageous acts of Falun Gong practitioners on that day. The following are some snap shots.

Starting from 9:55am, about a dozen practitioners held up and defended the banner of "Falun Turns Forever" for more than 10 minutes, while peacefully enduring the violent beating and dragging from the police (Figure 2). The police dragged a female practitioner in her 30s to the ground while holding her hair. But she managed to get up and spoke loudly: "Falun Dafa is righteous!" Many on-lookers were moved to tears. Among this group of practitioners, there was an old lady in her 80s. She was also pushed to the ground by the police officers.

At 10:33am, a man who looked very calm placed his 7-year-old daughter on his neck, as if the father and the young daughter were enjoying a good show. But the difference was that the little girl was holding a big picture of Falun! A plainclothes agent immediately rushed over, attempting to seize the picture of Falun. But the little girl quickly put the picture behind herself while smiling at the agent. After her father turned around, she then held up the picture again, and showed it to the people around. Later, both were pushed into the police van.

At 11:20am, two old practitioners appeared on the Tian-an-men Square while holding a banner of "Falun Dafa Is Good". While holding the banner, they were also telling the tourists: "Falun Dafa is good!" Later, both were arrested.

At 12 o'clock, 7 or 8 practitioners sat in a circle and started meditation (Figure 3). After a while, they were pushed onto the police van.

After they were arrested, the practitioners were sent to the Tian-an-men Square Police Station located to the east of the Square (Figure 4). They would face more serious challenges.

Chinese version available

Category: Accounts of Persecution