Police Take the Money of Senior Citizens

Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province]

Practitioner Zhang Xiuqi, male, 70 years old, went to Beijing to appeal on December 9, 2000. He was taken to the police department in Shunyi County of Beijing on December 10. The police beat him and took away the 500 Yuan he had. (Yuan is Chinese dollar. The average monthly income of an urban worker is 500 Yuan.) On December 14, the local police took him back to Harbin City and held him up for a month in the Dongli Police Department. His work place asked his family to hand over 1000 Yuan before he would be released. During his detention, the policemen extorted 2000 Yuan from his family. Yang, head of a section in the Dongli Police Department, also extorted 5000 Yuan from Zhang's family.

In order to please the higher authorities, the director of the residential committee tried to force Zhang to write a promise to give up practising Falun Gong. Otherwise Zhang would not be able to get back the money they extorted under various names. Zhang refused to follow his demand.

Practitioner Zhang Guozhen, female, 73 years old, went to appeal in Beijing on December 28, 2000. She was arrested and taken by the local police to Yazijuan in Harbin City on January 2, 2001. The police took away 30 Yuan, the only money she had. The police officer in Tongxiang Police Station who was on duty in her community extorted 2000 Yuan from her family. She has been held at the custodial centre for 16 days. The Dongli Police Department also extorted 5000 Yuan from her and they have not returned the money.

Practitioner Wang Shufeng, female, 63 years old, was arrested for appealing in Beijing. Two policemen, Yu and Zhang, of Tongxiang Police Station took her back on April 29, 2000. When they were in Beijing, they deliberately stayed in an expensive room at the Jingbin Hotel (260 Yuan per night). Wang was forced to pay for their expenses and 5000 Yuan to the Dongli Police Department. Along with other fees, she paid over 13,000 Yuan. Wang went to Beijing again on December 27, 2000. She was taken back to Harbin City by the police on January 2, 2001 and sentenced to one year in a labour camp. Her family paid 18,000 Yuan for bail on June 23, 2001. So altogether she has been robbed of over 31,000 Yuan

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/14/15648.html