(Clearwisdom.net) At approximately 10:00 a.m. on November 18, 2001, two Falun Dafa practitioners from Hebei Province arrived at Tiananmen Square in Beijing without encountering any obstacles on the way. On the western side of the Golden Water Bridge, they successfully unfurled their banners and shouted loudly, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous Fa!" They were arrested by the police on the underground path as they tried to leave and forcibly taken to the Tiananmen Police Station. They were not allowed to eat or drink, nor go to the bathroom. At that time, there was ten Dafa practitioners (2 males and 8 females) locked up in steel cages at the Tiananmen Police Station. In the evening these two practitioners were escorted to Shijingshan Custodial Center.
To protest against the unreasonable treatment by police, they began a hunger and water strike from the time they were arrested. On November 20 police started force-feeding them. One of the practitioners was force-fed on the first day of the hunger strike. Afterwards, that practitioner felt a bitter taste in her mouth. The liquid tasted like medicine, and it made her feel nauseated and caused a burning sensation in her windpipe. After returning to her room, her criminal roommates were told to watch her closely and not allow her to vomit the food. The next day she was force-fed again, and afterwards she began to feel very hungry and thirsty. By these means, the police tried to compel practitioners to submit. A practitioner remembered that when she first came to the custodial center, she heard a policeman say, "You do not eat now, but after force-feeding you will beg me for food." So, she told the doctor in charge of force-feeding that she suspected him of putting drugs in the food. Then, on November 23, she was force-fed with something that tasted sweet, different from how it tasted before.
A female practitioner in her sixties (detention number 662) was illegally detained for over two months in Room No. 1 of No. 4 District in this custodial center. The elderly lady said, "If I die, my death will have been caused by their persecution."
On November 26, she was illegally taken to the Railroad Custodial Center of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. The policemen knew that she had already been on a hunger strike for 9 days, but none of them took care of her or paid her any attention. On the 15th day of her hunger strike, she was on the verge of death. When this was reported to the director of the center on duty, he said that he would not consider it until the next day, when another shift would be on duty. On December 3, guard Zhang carried a piece of rubber pipe to the elderly lady's cell. Lifting the lady's quilt, he verbally abused her, pulled her hair, and beat her. Then, he and some other criminals force-fed the practitioner four times but failed to put any food into her mouth. This guard who brought the piece of rubber pipe was not a doctor or nurse and had no medical training.
