News from China - 06/20/2000

[Guangzhou] Follow-up Reports on the Group Practices in Guangzhou

[1] On June 18, Falun Gong practitioners from Guangzhou held group practices for the first time since last July 22. The group practice took place in several places including the Tianhe Stadium, the Memorial Garden of Revolutionary Martyrs, the People's Park, and Xiaogang Park.

At around 6:30am, practitioners started their practices. About 100 practitioners showed up in the Tianhe Stadium. Between 40 to 50 practitioners participated in the practices at the Memorial Garden of Revolutionary Martyrs and the People's Park each. While the number of practitioners in the Xiaoguang Park is not known yet.

The police seemed well prepared for the group practices at the Tianhe Stadium and the Memorial Garden of Revolutionary Martyrs. Over a dozen police vehicles and jail vehicles along with a big group of armed police came to the spot. The practitioner was dragged and pushed onto the vehicles by the police at a ratio of 2 to 3. The practitioners continued to recite "Lun Yu" and poems from "Hong Yin" loudly inside the vehicles.

In the People's Park, a few policemen kept watching on the practitioners after the practice started. It was not until one hour later that the armed police and many public security officers began to arrive, that was, after 8am.. After the armed police arrived, they encircled the practitioners and performed some maneuvers. However, all the practitioners appeared not affected at all and continued their practice. Later, they were pushed into the vehicles by force.

A lot of people witnessed what the police did to the practitioners. Some of them commented that the government had gone too far to call in the armed police to deal with these people who just practiced the peaceful exercises in the park without disturbing any others. Some could not understand why these people still continued to practice Falun Gong after the government banned it, etc. While many people admired the courage of the practitioners by running the risk of their lives.

Many practitioners were detained on the playground of a school. Those senior practitioners had been released. The father of an 18-19 years old practitioner was informed to send food to the police station.

[2] At 7am of June 18, about 150 practitioners started practice at the Central Park of Guangzhou (City), which happened to be in front of the Municipal Government. At around 7:50am, about 15 police vehicles arrived. At the same time, about 100 policemen blocked neighboring streets and encircled the practitioners. 10 minute later, the police started pushing the practitioners into the vehicles by force. Despite mistreatments, the practitioners kept smiling and promoting Dafa to the passersby. They also chanted loudly, "Falun Dafa is righteous!" while being pushed onto the vehicles. These scenes moved all the practitioners and the people on the spot. At night, some practitioners got released.

It was reported that the couple of Shi Lei and their child refused to tell the police their names and address in the Xincheng police station of Zhujiang. As a consequence, Shi Lei was beaten up by the police before he was transferred to the Dongshan branch police station later. Meanwhile, his family members had gone to the police station to argue for the justice.

[Shandong Province] Former "Transformed" Contact Person Came Back to Falun Gong, Chinese Authorities Embarrassed

Zhang Shouqiang, a former contact person of Falun Gong, was arrested on the morning of July 20 in 1999 in the government's countrywide crackdown on Falun Gong. Failing to endure through the tortures in jail, he then committed many wrongdoings against his conscience, such as criticizing Falun Dafa in the central Chinese TV programs and the local Shandong Provincial TV programs.

Later, Zhang Shouqiang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong instead. Since Zhang had been selected as a "role model" by the government in slandering Falun Dafa, it was embarrassing for the government to sentence him or to send him to the labor camp. Currently, he was put under the surveillance. His detailed info is unknown.

[Guangxi Province]

Currently, about 30 female practitioners are being detained in the Maoqiao Women Labor Camp in Nanning City, Guangxi Province. In this May, in order to validate the righteousness of Dafa and get back their rights of studying and practicing Falun Gong, they held a group practice outdoors. Later, many of them were penalized with individual confinements or prolonged imprisonment. Since information channels were closely blocked, no more information about them could be obtained.

More male practitioners are being detained in the labor camps of all major cities in Guangxi Province. Most of them were former contact people or practitioners who had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong for many times or practitioners who had continued to practice Falun Gong under high pressure.

[Chengdu City]

On June 19, practitioner Cheng Zhan, an employee from the Agricultural Bank of Longquanyi District of Chengdu City, was suddenly taken away from his home by the police because he refused to sign the pledge to give up Falun Gong practice. The police also ransacked his home. Now his whereabouts is unknown.

Practitioners including Ms. Chen Shangzhen, former headmaster of an elementary school, had been transferred to a transitional jail on the Ningxia Street. They will be transferred to the Nanmusi women labor camp in Zizhong County for forced-labor.

[Pi County, Sichuan Province] Practitioner Ms. Zhao Hailing Was Paraded Side by Side with Death Penalty Criminals

The police from Pi County paraded practitioner Ms. Zhao Hailing in the streets together with criminals who had sentenced to death, for having gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. During the parade, Ms. Zhao held her head high and carried a smile on her face. Many practitioners on the spot and those practitioners who saw her on the TV were moved to tears by her spirit.

After Ms. Zhao got released, she reassured her family and entrusted her child of less than 4 years old to care and went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong again. She is now being detained in the detention center of Pi County waiting for heavy sentences.

[Hubei Province]

Over a dozen contact people and practitioners from the Jingmen City have been long detained for forced-labor for their unshakable faith in Falun Dafa. Now many practitioners' families are living in difficulty.

[Beijing] Police Cheated Money out of Practitioners by Taking Advantage of Their Compassionate Hearts

A policeman from the Tiananmen Police Station claimed that he had a major in law and chose to be a policeman because he thought that being a lawyer would cost virtue. He told a practitioner that he had lent his money to another practitioner who could not afford the travel expenses. He also said that a family member of his was critically ill and he must go back home immediately. However, he was short of money. We several practitioners thought he was telling the truth and, moreover, what he talked about Falun Dafa was all right. So we then pooled 1,000 Yuan and gave it to him.

This policeman repeatedly told us that he would return us the money and asked us to leave our names and addresses (note: It's out practice not to tell the police our names when appealing in Beijing). A practitioner from Guangdong left his address. As a result, the local police went to his home immediately after he went back. He then got to know that he had been fooled.