(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in at least seven provinces, including two in their 80s, were harassed prior to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s two major annual meetings.
Dubbed “two sessions,” both of China's legislative bodies, the National People's Congress (NPC) and its top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), hold their annual meetings around the same time every year (though separately). This year's CPPCC meeting began on March 4, and the NPC meeting started the following day.
Since the CCP ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the authorities have often intensified the harassment around major political meetings in an attempt to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from speaking out.
Below are the details of some harassment cases.
Since late February, the police in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province began to harass local practitioners, including Mr. Shi Bangcai, Ms. Tang Xuzhen, Mr. Deng Shimin, Ms. Li Yulan, and Ms. Peng Gongshu. The police and residential committee staff members were ordered to take photos of the practitioners to prove that they had done their job to “visit” the practitioners. If they couldn’t take the photos, they demanded the practitioners’ family members do so for them.
The officers also ordered the practitioners not to go out or talk to people about Falun Gong during the “two sessions.”
Because the police couldn’t find Ms. Peng after she moved, they revoked her ID.
Two practitioners in Hefei City, Anhui Province, Ms. Lu Jinrong, 74, and Ms. Xu Wanzhen, 80, had their homes ransacked on February 24. Both of them had their Falun Gong books and photo of Falun Gong’s founder taken away. Ms. Lu was released in the afternoon and Ms. Xu returned home in the evening. The police returned Ms. Xu’s Falun Gong books to her.
In Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, the police harassed local practitioners by coming to their homes in person or calling them. Sometimes they claimed to be conducting a census in order to deceive the practitioners into opening the door.
Five officers showed up at 84-year-old Mr. Sun Shilian’s home in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province on March 2. They searched every room and took photos. One officer attempted to take the photo of Falun Gong’s founder displayed in the room but was stopped by Mr. Sun.
Mr. Sun said his many ailments, including cirrhosis, asthma, and gastroenteritis, disappeared after he took up Falun Gong. But because he upheld his faith, he was incarcerated for 15 years and almost died in prison. The police chief Zhao ordered him to go to the police station the next morning to answer some questions. Mr. Sun refused to comply.
Four plainclothes officers approached Ms. Zhuang Li, a resident of Rizhao City, Shandong Province, on the morning of March 4, while she was taking a walk in the neighborhood. She urged them not to participate in the persecution and they left shortly after.
A practitioner in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, as well as three elderly practitioners, surnamed Xu, Li, and Wang, in Changchun City, Jilin Province, were also harassed in early March. The police attempted to take their photos, but the practitioners didn’t let them.
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