Falun Gong Practitioners in Huairou District, Beijing, Harassed and Arrested on the Eve of April 25th incident

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the April 25th¹ incident, the Chinese Communist Party agents again harassed and forcibly arrested Falun Gong practitioners. On April 23rd, 2009, many practitioners in Huairou District, Beijing were harassed. The campaign of searching and arresting was launched by the Public Security Bureau's 610 Office², local police stations and the Town's Street Integrated Management Office together. No legal procedures were followed and it was conducted by only plain-clothes police.

Zhang Jianqi's house in Huirou District, Beijing was searched and the couple's property was confiscated. Zhang Jianqi is in his seventies and is disabled. Only because nobody but his wife took care of him, was his wife not forcibly taken away at this time, although she was threatened.

Early in the morning, at 6:30 a.m., April 23rd, the house of sixty-six-year-old Mr. Han Honglin and his wife, sixty-three-year-old Mrs. Meng Shuzhen in Huibeizhuang Village, Huibei Town, Huirou District was visited by agents from the District 610 Office, Public Security Bureau, Huibei Town Police Station and Town Integrated Management Office. The old couple firmly refused to open their door. In the end, the old couple stood on the roof of their single-story house and spoke to the villagers loudly, "Everybody, please take a look. The police ignore the beatings, looting, killing and arson happening in society. Yet they want to arrest us, good people who cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They are indeed the factors that cause an unstable society." Seeing their attitude, the police were scared. Police from the local police station drove away first. Then the Public Security Bureau, 610 Office and Integrated Management Office people left as well.

According to what was revealed by people who knew the facts, on the day of April 23rd, many Falun Gong practitioners in the Huirou District were forcibly taken away. We hope international human rights activists will pay attention to the situation in China.

Note

1. "April 25th": This refers to the "sensitive" anniversary of April 25th, 1999, on which date ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners peacefully gathered outside the Zhongnanhai compound (China’s central government building) and successfully appealed for the release of forty-five practitioners who had been arrested in Tianjin City.

2. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/28/199887.html