Tangshan City, Hebei Province: 26 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day

(Minghui.org) Twenty-six residents of Tangshan City, Hebei Province were arrested on May 12, 2021, for their faith in Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Most of the arrests were in the morning, with 10 of the arrests taking place at around 5 a.m. It has been confirmed that 22 practitioners had their homes ransacked. At the time of writing, 19 practitioners have been released, 6 are being held in custody, and one practitioner’ situation isn’t clear.

Below are the details of the arrests.

At around 4 a.m. on May 12, the police called Xiao Changjun, the Communist Party secretary of the village where Ms. Pan Haoqiu was living, and told Xiao to take them to Ms. Pan’s home.

At 5 a.m., nearly 30 officers arrived at Ms. Pan’s home in five police cars. Without calling her, they scaled the fence and broke into her home, where she was living by herself. The officers took pictures of Ms. Pan’s residence and began to search it. Her Falun Gong books, speaker, printer, copy paper, and many other personal properties worth of 10,000 yuan were confiscated.

When Ms. Pan’s sisters went to visit her in the afternoon, they were shocked to see her home in a mess. As Ms. Pan later held a hunger strike at the local detention center to protest the persecution, the police called her older sister and asked her to persuade Ms. Pan to start eating.

Ms. Pan’s sisters later found out that a police officer named Wu Guanghua had followed Ms. Pan for a long time before arresting her.

Six practitioners in Guye District, including Mr. Miao Yongli and his wife Ms. Niu Ruiying, Ms. Niu’s sisters Ms. Niu Ruizhi and Ms. Niu Ruiqin, as well as Ms. Wu Caixia and Ms. Wang Guizhi, were all arrested at around 5 a.m. All of their homes were ransacked.

Except for the couple who were both given 15 days of detention, the other four practitioners were released shortly after their arrests.

Mr. Dong Jinping, Ms. Shan Huanrong and Ms. Li Enhong were also arrested at around 5 a.m. Another practitioner, Ms. Meng Xiuxin, was arrested later in the morning by officers of the Shuiwuzhuang Police Station, who also arrested Ms. Shan. Both Ms. Shan and Ms. Meng were released after they failed the physical examination required for admission to the local detention center.

Mr. Dong and Ms. Li have also been released. It’s not clear whether their homes were ransacked.

At 7 a.m., the police knocked on the door of Mr. Li Guozhong and his wife Ms. Zhang Yuxiang. As the couple refused to open the door, the police called their son and daughter and ordered them to persuade the couple to cooperate with them.

After a long time of standoff, the police forced the couple’s son to come over to their place. They also threatened to call a locksmith if the couple still didn’t open the door. After the couple were forced to open the door, the police barged in and confiscated the couple’s Falun Gong books. They also searched their garage. The couple and their two children were brought to the police station for interrogation at around 2 p.m. They were released at around 10: 30 p.m.

When the police arrested Ms. Zhao Shuixin, they scaled her fence by climbing a ladder. After breaking into her home, they searched around and confiscated her personal items. She was released in the afternoon.

Ms. Zhang Guifang, in her 60s, was arrested in the morning. The police confiscated her Falun Gong books and some magazines. She remains in custody at the time of writing.

Ms. Liu Sujun was also arrested in the morning. She was held at the Luannan County Lockup for ten days and released on May 23. Just days prior to her arrest, she took her car for a mechanical inspection and the technician found a location tracking device under her car. She suspected that the police put it there in order to monitor her.

Mr. Liu Shangyu was arrested at home at around 10 a.m. by a dozen officers. His Falun Gong books and magazine were confiscated. The police brought him to the police station for interrogation and released him at around 5 p.m.

Mr. Zhang Shuangyong, Ms. Zhang Wei, Ms. Guo Yanju and Ms. Sun Baifeng, who worked at the Zhuoyu Camera Store, were arrested at around 1 p.m. Ms. Zhang Weiqi, who had worked at the store before, was arrested around the same time. The police ransacked the store as well as Ms. Zhang Weiqi’s home.

While Mr. Zhang’s situation remains unknown, the other four practitioners are currently held at the Tangshan City No.1 Detention Center.

Mr. Yang Guoguang and his wife Ms. Wang Shuxia were arrested in the afternoon. Ms. Wang was released shortly thereafter. Mr. Yang was given seven days of detention and released on May 19. It’s not clear whether the couple’s home was ransacked.