Pressure from China Results in Hong Kong Police Violence

On the morning of March 14, 2002, to protest the Jiang regime's "Shoot to Kill" and "Killing without Pardon" orders, four Swiss Falun Gong practitioners started a 3-day hunger strike in front of the China Liaison Office. Twelve local Hong Kong practitioners joined the peaceful petition. Under pressure from the China Liaison Office, at 1 p.m., Hong Kong police deployed a large number of police to forcefully remove and detain all 16 practitioners. At least one Swiss practitioner and eight Hong Kong practitioners were injured. At present, the four Swiss practitioners have been released on bail, but the 12 Hong Kong practitioners are still in detention. Practitioners being detained were asked to sign bail statements and were asked to report to the police department some time later. However, they rejected the request, demanding instead their unconditional release. Before and after the police picked up the practitioners they spread false rumours that distorted the facts and claimed they would accuse the practitioners of using violent force against police. From Hong Kong, we call on all practitioners to be aware of this news […]

Hong Kong Falun Gong spokeswoman Sophie Xiao said, "These 16 practitioners conducted a peaceful and legal petition by doing the exercises. Hong Kong police should not mistreat or detain any peaceful and legal petitioners; there is freedom of belief and freedom of assembly in Hong Kong. However, this illegal detention shows that the Hong Kong authority is following the persecution policy against Falun Gong practitioners in China. It is worrisome."

On the morning of March 14, four Swiss Falun Gong practitioners started a 3-day hunger strike in front of the China Liaison Office. Over a dozen local Hong Kong practitioners joined the peaceful petition. As the China Liaison Office phoned and exerted pressure again and again on Hong Kong Police, the police asked practitioners to leave the petition area facing the main entrance to the China Liaison Office. The practitioners rejected the request. At about 1 p.m., many police surrounded the petitioners and forcibly carried them to police vehicles. A police officer directed the whole process. He ordered his officers, "Use some violence," and gave detailed instruction on how to follow the order. Policemen forcefully pressed the sitting practitioners' foreheads, clutched their necks, forcefully twisted their arms, and pressed their acupuncture points behind their ears [the sensitive points to disable people; some Asian police are trained to use acupuncture points to control criminals]. In a contemptible act, a young policewoman even shouted beside a female practitioner who was being manhandled by policemen, "Go ahead, bite me!" She then pretended to be bitten and loudly shouted that she had been. Some policemen indecently assaulted female practitioners, and other practitioners sternly stopped them with a serious warning. In the whole detention process, it appeared that policemen did not beat practitioners, but in fact, they kept roughly grabbing practitioners' necks and pressing their acupuncture points. As a result at least one Swiss practitioner and eight Hong Kong practitioners were injured. They felt dizzy and nauseous. They had pain all over their bodies and some had difficulty breathing. One female practitioner couldn't catch her breath. In the detention process, most Falun Gong practitioners were injured to some extent as they were forcibly dragged into the police vehicles. On the way to the police department, the right side of an elderly female practitioner's face was scratched, and she asked to see a doctor to check it out. But the police ignored her request. Another practitioner's head was injured in the attack. Though the practitioners formally requested medical attention at 5 p.m., the police delayed until 11 p.m. and then arranged to take them to a hospital. In order to hide the truth, they took a detour to avoid the media. Doctors prescribed pain-killer pills and Dongqing paste [a kind of Chinese medicine to cure stasis induced by bruises], which is evidence that practitioners were indeed injured.

After the practitioners were taken away and held in the Hong Kong West District Police Department, the police department arranged for five police officers to visit a hospital for medical examination, claiming that they were wounded by Falun Gong practitioners and they wanted to accuse the practitioners. When Falun Gong practitioners asked to verify the "wounded" police officers by meeting them face to face, the police refused their request. How could they face honest practitioners with their guilty consciences? The police stated that the detained practitioners could leave once they signed the bail documents, but they must report to the West District Police Department at a certain time. The practitioners refused to sign the papers, asking that all be unconditionally released.

Before the arrest took place, a commanding officer from the West District Police Department held a news conference in front of the gate of the China Liaison Office, explaining the reasons for this action. He stated that the first reason was that the practitioners blocked the street, hindering the vehicles going into and out of the China Liaison Office building. The second reason he gave was that some practitioners had entered the China Liaison Office building a few days ago, "disturbing" the employees and "frightening" them, which damaged social order. In reality, the sidewalk is 30 feet wide around that building, and the appeal site was 10 feet away from the vehicle entrance of the China Liaison Office building. How could the quietly sitting practitioners block any vehicle? How could they disturb public safety? Moreover, the practitioners had never entered the building; the security guard would not have allowed this to happen even if they had tried. Besides, the complete official name of this China Liaison Office is the Liaison Office of China Central Government at Hong Kong Special Administration Area, which is the right place for people to hold appeals. This office should listen to people's appeals: how could they say they were being disturbed and frightened?

It is understood that the cause of this appeal activity was the Jiang regime's issuing of a secret order at the beginning of March commanding policemen to "shoot to kill Falun Gong practitioners." Four western practitioners from Switzerland decided to go appeal in Beijing. However, since they are Falun Gong practitioners, the Chinese authorities unreasonably revoked their visas. Thus, they changed their plans and went to the China Liaison Office -- China Central Government Liaison Authorities in Hong Kong, and started a hunger strike in front of the office building.

[…]

Source:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/3/16/19911.html