(Minghui.org) Several dozen Falun Gong practitioners were arrested on March 22, 2017, outside Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison in Xi’an City.

They had been gathering outside the prison on a regular basis for several months to show their solidarity with local practitioners who are incarcerated there for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

There were usually 50-60 practitioners, mostly between the ages of 55 and 90, at each gathering. The police began to monitor them when they noticed their presence outside the prison.

After the mass arrest, the police searched the practitioners’ homes.

At this point, the exact number of practitioners arrested remains to be investigated. We ask that anyone with further knowledge of the situation please come forward.