(Minghui.org) More than 30 Falun Gong practitioners in Tonghua City, Jilin Province were arrested on September 2, most of them having been identified from police surveillance videos. These arrests were likely part of a larger campaign by the Chinese government to round up Falun Gong practitioners before National Day on October 1st.
The police hid near the practitioners' homes since 3am on September 2, and made their arrests between 6am and 8am, when the practitioners were leaving for work. They were taken to a detention center on the same day, where they were forced to identify other Falun Gong practitioners from police surveillance footage. They were also assigned two prisoners each to tail them and monitor their actions continuously.
The detention center had refused to take Li Xiuying, Zhu Yaxian, Feng Zengde, and Zhang Chaobin because of their poor physical condition. However, the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee bribed the detention center with 1,000 yuan per practitioner to accept them.
Feng Zengde – who has been troubled by hypertension and constipation – could not eat any food while in the center. Zhu Yaxian developed severe chest pains and later started to cough up blood. The police escorted her to get a physical check-up, and then brought her back to the detention center, claiming that she had no health issues.
Practitioners Li Xiuhong and Ding Lina were beaten by other prisoners because they refused to wear inmate uniforms. They, along with practitioners Liu Xiaona and Li Xiuying, held hunger strikes to protest the arrest.
On September 26, the police taped Ding Lina's hands together and fastened them to a metal chair. They then forced liquefied food down her throat using tubes.
Wang Yushu, Wang Shumei, and Feng Lin were able to return home before September 12. Li Xiuying was released on September 26. The rest of the practitioners are still being closely monitored in the detention center.
The police have submitted some of the practitioners' cases to prosecutors.