Elderly Practitioner Arrested, Police Attempt to Collect Blood Sample

While 78-year-old Ms. Zhang Zhonghui (张中慧) was walking down the street, a police car drove by. Two officers jumped out and arrested her. She was taken to the Huaguoyuan Police Station. The reason for the arrest? Ms. Zhang practises Falun Gong.

At the police station, an officer kicked Ms. Zhang in the chest and knocked her to the floor. Another officer grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the floor. Others stomped on her back.

While they were brutally beating Ms. Zhang, an officer grabbed her fingers and attempted to take a blood sample. Ms. Zhang struggled, and the officer stuck the needle into her own hand.

The police took Ms. Zhang's house key and ransacked her home. When Ms. Zhang was released three hours later, she found her home in a mess and her Falun Gong books, a photo of the founder of Falun Gong, and many other personal items missing.

Ms. Zhang still had back pain from the beating many days after the arrest, and suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. After doing the Falun Gong exercises for several days, the pain was gone, but she still had blurred vision in her left eye.

Under orders from the police, the Guihuilu Residential Committee in Ms. Zhang's neighbourhood has been monitoring her daily activities. Residential Committee staff sometimes stay outside her door and ask her where she's going whenever she goes out. They report her every move to the police. This is causing Ms. Zhang a lot of inconvenience and complicating her daily activities.