A small number of people in the historically famous Chinese city of Kaifeng cater and yield to the evil forces, and have been aggressively arresting Falun Gong practitioners since around the Spring Festival of 2000.
Late at night on the second day after the Chinese New Year (Mid-February), they arrested over 60 practitioners. Over the next few days, over ten more practitioners were arrested from their homes. During this period, the police also conducted massive searches of hundreds of practitioners who stayed at home. Some practitioners were jailed at police substations for four or five days and were not allowed to go home. Detained practitioners were beaten, subjected to marathon interrogations, and were not allowed visits by family members. Some practitioners were interrogated and tortured for an entire night at detention centers, and were sent back to prison cells with their noses greenish black and their faces swollen.
At the Northern Suburb Detention Center, on the third day after the Chinese New Year, the temperature reached 10 Celsius at night, and a drop of water would turn into ice immediately. In the courtyard of the detention center, water was thrown onto a concrete slab to form ice, and eleven female practitioners were forced to perform the Falun Gong exercises on the ice and snow-covered ground wearing only their underwear. The ice-covered earth was marked with patches of frozen blood from three practitioners who had their periods. Even after a few days, the impressions formed on the ground by the meditating practitioners were still clearly visible. These practitioners were also forced to carry ice bricks in their hands or on their heads. They were forced to do so from 8pm until midnight. In order to prevent the practitioners from studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, the detention center instituted search for Zhuan Falun and forced some practitioners to put their heads down against a wall for a long time while the searches went on. The home of a practitioner from Xiaobeigun was searched twice. Dafa books and a tape recorder were confiscated, and 2000 Yuan (Chinese dollars, about four month salary of an averaged worker in cities of China) in cash disappeared from a drawer at the same time. This practitioner was forcefully put in handcuffs and shackles when being arrested for the second time. The handcuffs and shackles were still on this practitioner when family members later took him to a hospital for a physical examination.
Before the Spring Festival, the Nanguan Police Substation arrested and detained many practitioners. Among them was an elderly practitioner, over seventy years of age. In Weishi Township, over thirty practitioners were arrested at one time, simply because they talked about Falun Gong together. Practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal were all sent to labor camps unless their family members wrote letters of guarantee, paid the Police over 200 Yuan as processing fees, and paid anywhere between 2000 to 5000 Yuan of bail, for none of which were they given receipts. In addition, some practitioners were forced to submit a few thousand Yuan to their work units as penalties for appealing.
In February, Kaifeng City specially formed the "610" office, which was chartered to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The police handle affairs "jointly" through this office. Let us now briefly examine the "achievements" of this office over the last few months.
In order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, this office issued a special document that specifies the joint responsibilities of the police, this office, the committee of residents, family members, and work units. If any practitioner goes to appeal, associated personnel will be fired, penalized, expelled from the communist party, or fined. This malicious technique turns people against one another, which has misled many people and incited hatred toward Falun Gong.
The document deprives practitioners of normal work benefits. The salaries of working practitioners are reduced by 200 Yuan. Some practitioners who are still young and energetic were forced to retire early. In some work units, the few tens or 100 Yuan salaries of practitioners during sick leave were stopped. All of these have made the lives of practitioners difficult, and have caused serious damage to practitioners both in spirit and in material conditions.
Police substations refused to issue registrations of residence to Falun Gong practitioners; some are still without registrations of residence today. Police also forcefully relocated practitioners who had registrations of residence, as well as confiscated practitioners' identification cards and photos. These identification cards and photos have still not yet been returned. Police substations spy on practitioners as if they were criminals, watch them during work, and do not let them out of the door after work. When a practitioner from a certain company went to visit relatives in another city, this practitioner was followed and monitored by people hired by the police.
On one occasion in May, the City arrested over ten practitioners who went to appeal or practiced in a park. These practitioners have been detained for over half a year to date, without trials. Another seven practitioners were also arrested, and were not allowed to have visits by family members. A female practitioner among them was transferred to Tongxu Detention Center. A husband and a wife, both senior engineers at a certain factory in Nanguan, were arrested because they practiced in a park. One of them was detained for 30 day, and the other remains locked up in a detention center.
During May and July, various townships under the administration of the Kaifeng City arrested and detained over a hundred practitioners.
During the month of June, various districts and townships held a so-called "transformation study class", each class lasting three to seven days. Practitioners were not allowed to go home to eat or sleep at night, and each practitioner was required to pay a fee of 300 Yuan.
In August, the Daxin Street Police Substation in Kaifeng suspected that a few practitioners were talking about Falun Gong and arrested four of them. One of the practitioners was fined 1000 Yuan. Another was not able to pay the fine. This practitioner was detained as a criminal for a month, and was later detained administratively for another 15 days.
In the middle of October, Kaifeng City started another wave of arrests of Falun Gong practitioners. Homes of many practitioners were searched without a warrant. At least five practitioners in the Xuhe District were arrested in their homes. Ms. Liu Xiuli, a graduate student from Henan University, was arrested last October and was released only about a month ago. On October 13, 2000, she was arrested again in her home. On the same day, an English teacher in the Kaideng College of Tax Regulations was arrested at work and was forced to resign. This practitioner's home was also searched. A retired cadre from Henan University was detained four times, and arrested at home three out of the four times. On October 12, 2000, his home was forcefully searched. Because he was resentful of the police actions, he was carried to the police car by several policemen, and was later forcibly restrained with handcuffs and shackles. Ms. Dong Shujuan and Ms. Li Ying from the Foreign Language Department at Henan University were arrested because they distributed materials about the truth of Dafa. An English teacher from the Henan University was also detained. Such treatment of innocent people recalls the plots of gangster movies; it is so extreme as to seem unreal.
The Daxin Police Substation suspected that an old doctor in a hospital explained the truth about Falun Gong to other people, and arrested the old gentleman at his home. The Liangyuan Police Substation arrested two sixty-year old ladies in their homes. A retired teacher who explained to other people the injustice that Falun Gong has faced was taken away by plainclothes police.
A laid-off female worker was detained last year and divorced by her husband because she practices Falun Gong. On October 25, 2000, she was arrested again from her home.
On October 25, 2000, a policeman from the Airport Police Substation went to have a hair cut. Because the person cutting his hair talked about Falun Gong, the policeman arrested and detained this person.
On the evening of October 30, 2000, a middle-aged woman passed along a document on the truth about Falun Gong and was arrested by the Guoxiangsi Police Substation. Her home was searched.
Since October 25, the arresting of Falun Gong practitioners has reached a fever pitch. Every level of the entire city government has been pressured, as if driven by a formidable energy. The requirement to watch over Falun Gong practitioners has made the police and common people alike worried. Police Substations and some units were forced to hire special people to watch and control practitioners 24 hours a day, and even to stay outside practitioners' homes all night. Some managers forced practitioners to resign, and branded practitioners with labels such as "reactionary organization" or "anti-revolution".
To prevent Falun Gong practitioners from revealing to people facts that the news media have fabricated stories and hidden the evil crimes of a small number of people, the city Police Bureau and other relevant organizations extended their working hours to patrol the streets. They also sent out a large number of plainclothes officers to investigate, secretly follow, and even to monitor phone calls of practitioners. They have thought of all methods they could and have taken tremendous pains in persecuting Falun Gong.
The ancient city lies shrouded in terror and clouded by great shame. At the present time in Kaifeng, it has become a common practice for some policemen to arrest, detain, search the homes of, and fine Falun Gong practitioners without any restraint. This phenomenon seems to be on the rise. Up to now, there have been close to 200 incidents of arrests, four practitioners have been sentenced to labor camps, over ten other practitioners have been fired from work, expelled from the communist party, or reprimanded.
The false is most afraid of the truth, and the evil is most scared of being exposed.
Practitioners in China