[Beijing] 200 Practitioners On Hunger Strike
In February, 200 practitioners started hunger strike in the Chaoyang Detention Center in order to appeal to the government. Most of them started hunger strike on February 7, and most stopped hunger strike on February 13, the day that the director of the police station agreed to meet with the representatives and agreed to report practitioners' opinions to the higher authorities. Some practitioners continued hunger strike. A practitioner in 60s was on hunger strike for 12 days; Wang Xiao-ping was on hunger strike for 11 days. Many practitioners were force-fed with high-density salt water (250g salt plus 500g water).
[Beijing] Practitioners "Warmly" Received by the Petition Office
We are three of the 68 practitioners who are being detained in the Huang-shan-dian drug-stopping center. Our names are Cao Gui-xiang, Wang Shu-juan, and Hou Xiu-lan.
According to news shown by TV, the Premier Zhu said that the state should value the work of the petition offices, which should warmly receive every appealing citizen. With trust to the government, we went to the Petition Office to appeal for the innocence of Falun Gong. When we got there, many people were in front of the petition office. A person said, "Are you Falun Gong practitioners?" We said, "yes." "All appealing practitioners have been arrested," he said. We told him we were not afraid of that. A police officer came over upon hearing our conversation. He let us enter the petition office. The police officer received us. After we filed a form, two police officers unfurled a banner reading "Falun Rotates Forever" and ordered us to sit in front of the banner. A journalist took a photo of the banner, then us. After that, we were sent to the Fang-shan police station. Now we are detained in the Huang-shan-dian drug-stopping center with another 65 practitioners who have gone to appeal. [Written on March 5, 2000]
[Chengdu City] Practitioner Zhong Shu-rong, a mathematics teacher in the 51st Middle School of Chenhua district, was given a sentence of 15 days of detention for going to Beijing to appeal on March 1.
[Chende City] Seven practitioners in Chende City have been sentenced with 3 years of forced labor "education" since the government banned Falun Gong. To prevent practitioners from going to appeal during the "two sessions", the authorities arrested more than 60 practitioners.