Charlotte Creative Loafing (North Carolina): Charlotteans Roughed Up In Tianenmen Square

Feb. 28, 2002

Six North Carolinians, including two people from Charlotte, were arrested, beaten, searched, robbed and interrogated during a recent trip to Beijing. They were there to peacefully protest the Chinese government's persecution of some 100,000 members of Falun Gong, a meditation and spiritual movement that has come under increasing fire from the government. The incident has caused an international scandal, and brought attention to what is being called atrocious human rights violations in which thousands have been imprisoned, tortured and even killed.

The six North Carolinians involved left from the Raleigh airport on February 8 with plans to hold their protest during the week of Chinese New Year. Just before 2pm on February 14, the activists -- including about 50 other Falun Gong adherents from across America and Europe -- emerged from the tunnels leading into Beijing's bustling Tianenmen Square, which is bordered by parliament buildings and museums. As they began to unfurl their banners and sing the praises of Falun Gong, they were immediately set upon by uniformed and plainclothes Chinese police officers.

Joann Kao and Tina Bakatsias were some of the first ones attacked. "As we came out of the tunnel, we saw hundreds of policemen waiting for us," said Kao, a 40-year-old restaurant manager from Charlotte. "They grabbed me and twisted my arms behind my back and pushed me into a police van. All we could do was call out 'Falun Dafa' (the practice is good). One of the police officers ripped a scarf off my neck and stuffed it into my mouth. They treated us like animals."

Bakatsias was tackled from behind, after which she curled into a fetal position, covering her head. "They grabbed me by the hair and arms and shoved me into a police van," said Bakatsias, a 27-year-old office manager from Durham.

Thai Ton, a 34-year-old biologist, also from Durham, was getting similar treatment. After being tackled and wrestled to the ground, he was thrown into the back of a police van.

"One of the officers shoved me under a seat," Ton said. "He planted his foot on the back of my head and kept me pinned there. Every time I tried to break free he just stepped down harder."

Andrew Parker, a 22-year-old UNC-Greensboro student, was also wrestled to the ground and forced into a police van.

"Some Westerners who had nothing to do with the demonstration were being beaten and taken away," he said. "If the police will beat us in public in the middle of the day and we're backed by the US government, imagine what they're doing to the Chinese people behind closed doors."

Magnus Lee, a 21-year-old architecture student at UNC-Charlotte, caught much of the two-hour ordeal on film. "I have footage of people being chased, tackled, kicked, shoved into police vans, women getting pulled by their hair, people with open wounds on their face. It was unbelievable."

Lee was one of the few demonstrators who avoided capture, and managed to make it back to his hotel room near the airport. However, the others weren't so lucky. After being forced into police vans, they were driven to the Tianenmen Square police station. There they were separated, photographed and interrogated, during which time they were searched, and in many cases, their possessions stolen.

"If anybody resisted, the police would kick and beat them," Kao said. "It was really chaotic," Ton said. "We locked our arms to try to stay together, but they kept forcing us apart. People were screaming and being thrown to the ground. I ended up on the bottom of this big pile of people."

After being held at the Tianenmen jail for over two hours, the group was then hustled back into the police vans and taken to a hotel that's been converted into a police interrogation facility.

"It was obvious this hotel was for their (police) use," Parker said. "There were these big two-way mirrors in the rooms, the halls were dark, and they had all these metal detectors and conference tables set up."

Again, the group was separated and interrogated. When they asked to speak to a member of the American Embassy they were ignored or laughed at.

"You never knew what was going on," said Bakatsias. "Every time I asked them where were they taking me, they would just ignore me. While I was in the company of others I wasn't that scared. But when I was taken away by myself and interrogated, I was petrified. You just never know what's going to happen behind closed doors."

Eventually, about 15 of the protestors -- including those from North Carolina -- were herded into a single room, where a cluster of chain-smoking police officers kept a constant eye on them.

"They kept questioning why we were doing this, and we kept asking them what did we do wrong," said Kao. "We kept telling them that their government was lying to them."

"A lot of the policemen there had no idea what was going on," said Ton. "They didn't know about the deaths and the labor camps. All they knew was that their government had ordered them to stop the Falun Gong practitioners. A lot of them were really young. When you looked them in the eye, some would sort of nod at you. Others would refuse eye contact. It's like they knew they were in the wrong."

"It was really sad to see such young people who probably didn't know what was going on being put into that position," said Bakatsias.

After several hours, some police officers arrived with food, while others came with video cameras. "After we're beaten up and unlawfully detained, they try to film us being fed," Parker said. "We all refused the food." The group spent the remainder of the night meditating and chanting.

Shortly after 10am the next morning -- after being held for over 20 hours -- the prisoners were again ushered back into the police vans. They were driven to the airport, and escorted directly onto a plane. It was a regular commercial flight, so passengers appeared shocked when the group climbed on board, many looking beat-up with ripped clothes, some not even wearing shoes. "They had stolen a lot of our stuff," Parker said. "Most of us didn't have our luggage."

The plane touched down in Detroit, and the dazed group had to then figure out how to make it the rest of the way home. All the folks from North Carolina made it back February 15. They were rattled and roughed-up, but safe. In all, China expelled 33 Americans and 20 other foreigners. It's reported that six of the protestors who carried no documents and refused to reveal their nationalities were still in police custody.

Falun What?

Falun Gong is a practice of spiritual living that emerged in China during the early 1990s. It was developed by Li Hongzhi, [...]. Honghzi promoted meditation and exercise techniques as a means of gaining improved physical health and fitness and moral and spiritual purity. Its practitioners say the movement -- [...] -- aims to promote truth, tolerance, and compassion -- universal virtues that cross cultural, national and racial boundaries.

Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in 1992. By the mid-90s, it had millions of followers throughout China and dozens of other countries. In 1996, Honshi left China to conduct Falun Gong classes in Europe, Asia, and Australia. That same year the Chinese government stripped Falun Gong of its legal status and protection and banned its publications. Many of those involved in the protest movement say the Chinese government, threatened by the sheer size and potential power of the Falun Gong movement, clamped down on both the movement and the media, while at the same time spreading misinformation about the practice.

In 1998, Hongzhi moved to New York City, which became the headquarters of the movement. [...] On April 25, 1999, a crowd of about 10,000 Falun Gong followers carried out a daylong peaceful demonstration outside the central government buildings in Beijing. They stressed that Falun Gong isn't a religion or cult, and had nothing to do with politics. The government responded on July 22, 1999, with a total ban on Falun Gong in China, [...] China also issued an international warrant for the arrest of Li Hongzhi [...]

In the months after Falun Gong was banned, thousands of Chinese believers converged on Beijing to appeal for a reversal. Many were placed into "re-education through labor" camps, and some unconfirmed reports say nearly 2,000 have died in police custody.

The Chinese government's actions have been condemned by international human rights monitors, and sparked numerous demonstrations in Beijing, including the most recent one, the largest demonstration yet by foreign members of the banned movement. The folks from Charlotte and North Carolina who traveled to Beijing said they believed strongly enough in their cause to participate in the protest, despite the many dangers and risks involved.

"I knew it was going to be one of the most sacred, important things in my life," said Kao, who is originally from Taiwan and started practicing Falun Gong in '97. "I never had any fear. There are more than 10,000 people still in labor camps in China. That's why we went. Somebody needs to have the guts to tell the Chinese government they are wrong. . .We will continue to do this until the persecution and killing stops."

Ton, who's been a practitioner for four years, said it was the very principles of Falun Gong that compelled him to go to Beijing.

"It's about refining one's character based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance," he said. "This is a terrible human rights tragedy. Good people are being tortured and killed everyday. We didn't have any kind of agenda or political goals, we just went out of compassion."

"I think the police may have actually taken it easier on us because of all the bad press they've received after other groups protested," said Lee, who started practicing Falun Gong about a year ago. "I think we are making a difference. But what we went through is nothing compared to what the Chinese people have experienced. And that's what we wanted to appeal and expose."

"So many have been tortured and killed," said Bakatsias. "And most people in China don't even know what's going on. The government works hard at covering things up. Since I'm able to freely practice my beliefs, I felt like I should represent the thousands who don't have those same freedoms. So I had some fear, but that just seemed really petty to what so many others are going through."

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