Review of the Facts: Beijing Police Officers Interfered in the Funeral of Zhao Xin and Arrested Photographers

One day in late December of 2000, I received the information about the funeral of Zhao Xin. I rushed to the Babaoshan Cemetery in the morning only to learn that the ceremony would be held in the afternoon. All of the "farewell halls" were open. I came back at around one o'clock after lunch, when I saw a big bus parked in front of the gate and some policemen guarding the gate. A number of police vehicles were also parked near the inner farewell hall in the cemetery. There were plainclothes policemen all over the place. All of the farewell halls were closed except for the No.3 hall. No sooner had two hundred people filed in, including Zhao Xin's former students and teachers from the Beijing Industry and Commerce University, her friends and family members, and Dafa practitioners, than the policemen closed the cemetery gate and blocked anyone from entering. Over a thousand practitioners failed to enter. Whoever attempted to enter the cemetery was quickly grabbed by the police officers and thrown into the big bus that was waiting there and later driven away.

The funeral was originally planned to start at 3 p.m. Some practitioners were distributing white flowers to the guests while they were quietly waiting in line. Finally the car that carried Zhao Xin's parents arrived right before 3 p.m. Zhao Xin's relatives and family members, particularly Zhao's parents, were all filled with deep sorrow. Many practitioners stepped forward toward them and used practitioners' special gesture of respect called "Heshi" (both hands pressed together in front of the chest) to express their condolences. The family members had arrived and the funeral was ready to begin, when something unexpected happened. Noises were heard from the entrance of the farewell hall. It turned out that the authorities told Zhao's family members that no personal review of Zhao Xin was allowed and the memorial speech had to be revised - even though it had already been censored before. Furthermore, the policemen removed the elegiac couplets on the wreaths. Apparently anything related to exposing the truth of the persecution had to be removed. This was certainly unacceptable to Zhao's family so they tried to negotiate with the police head.

The funeral finally began after a long negotiation. I followed the crowd into the farewell hall. The wreaths did not carry elegiac couplets any more and the brief introduction of Zhao Xin was removed from the memorial speech, in addition to any words that exposed the truth of the persecution. Surrounding the crowd and the farewell hall were all plainclothes police officers. After paying my last respects to the deceased, I turned to Zhao's parents to express my condolences. The ceremony was finished hastily.

Everyone was leaving and it was murky outside. I was on the way out of the cemetery too when I heard hasty and chaotic steps from near the underground tunnel. Some people (non-practitioners) were running on the pavements and on the roads. I learned later that they were plainclothes policemen who tried to grab the camera from a photographer. A few practitioners strived hard to protect the photographer and his camera. The policemen failed to catch him or to get the camera. I had hardly understood what was going on when a car suddenly stopped behind me. As I turned back, I saw a car coming from a small road and it stopped six feet from me. A man rushed out of the car to catch another young man walking on the sidewalk and then threw him into the car. The policeman arrested him only because the young man had also taken some pictures.

To learn more about the death of Zhao Xin, please go to: http://clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_list_100.html#091

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/6/8/76601.html