Irish Practitioner Held in Blood-Stained Room and Beaten by Chinese Police

Irish Practitioner Held in Blood-Stained Room and Beaten by Chinese Police

My name is Gerald O’Connor. Here is an account of what happened in Beijing after I held up a banner that read Falun Dafa Hao (Falun Dafa is good) in the famous Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

I walked around Tiananmen Square one time before I held up the banner. I would say there were more than 100 people around the flag [during the flag ceremony] as this was around 6pm and it was about to be lowered. I walked to the spot were the most people would see me and I shouted Falun Dafa Hao! I said it maybe three times before two guards came over and tried to take the banner off me. I stood still and said again in a loud voice so everyone could hear me say Falun Dafa Hao! A police van then came screeching up behind me. Most people had heard my appeal. The guards did not say anything and drove me to the police station beside the Square. There was a Mexican who was also picked up at the same time because he was taking photographs. He was being questioned in English as to whether he knew me.

They then brought me into the police station. Again I shouted Falun Dafa Hao. They brought me in to a large room where there were 5 or 6 policemen in the room and many walked by in the corridor which leads to the entrance I had just been brought in through. They then searched me and found my wallet, room keys and passport. After they discovered I was from Ireland, they started shouting insults at me, Ireland and Falun Dafa. They all did this and mainly used these words in an aggressive way. They tried to take my photograph but I would not let them. I had done nothing wrong. I just told them Falun Dafa was good and not to hurt good people, why should I let them treat me like a common criminal? Two guards tried to pull my hands from my face. They could not, and then another grabbed my fingers and started to twist them back thus allowing them to take their picture. They then asked me where my hotel was. I didn’t tell them; again I had done nothing wrong and should not have been arrested. With the one picture they had taken one policeman kept making faces at me and waving it under my nose. He must have been nearly fifty. I did not move. I think he wanted me to grab it. They kept asking me to sit down and I refused, I later realized that it was more difficult to attack me when I was standing up. Another policeman then came in through the door and told me to go with him. He was old and accompanied by two younger officers who spoke English. As soon as we got outside I shouted Falun Dafa Hao! One officer grabbed my hair the others kicked and punched me and escorted me to the police car. I was sitting in the police car and the older officer opened the door and leaned in. His face was contorted and he tried to punch me in the face.

The two guards who spoke English started asking me where my hotel was (the name was written on my room key but not the address). They acted nicely to begin with. I told them that [Falun] Dafa was good and about the many injustices that had happened to practitioners. They went from hotel to hotel each time asking me was this my hotel. I did not reply. When we came to a crowded place, I shouted Falun Dafa Hao. They wound up the darkened windows of the police car and the two guards’ expressions changed and they started punching and hitting me with the butt of their walkie talkie (I think it was a walkie talkie). They then held my head down so I could not see where we were going and I would not call out.

After visiting a few hotels they drove to an underground car park. I was shocked on seeing where they were taking me. There were other police cars in the car park so I new it was a police station Car Park. They ordered me out of the car. At this stage I was a little shaken and when they asked me to crouch down by the wall, I did so without thinking so much and then when I was lower than their height they began punching kicking and swearing at me. Other policemen started to come over. I knew a practitioner had been killed in a Beijing police station before. With this in my mind I decided to tell them where the hotel was, They didn’t beat me after this, but I wasn’t happy I told them because why should I as I had done nothing wrong? They then lead me into a police cell that was situated in this underground car park in my mind I was thinking that if I shouted no one could hear. On the cell walls were what looked like bloodstains - not one but all over the wall and on the mattress that was on the bed. The smell of bleach in the room was very strong and made it uncomfortable to breathe. They then made me take off ALL my clothes. As I took them off they forcefully dragged them off me slightly tearing my trousers (belt holder). They then searched my clothes and let me put them back on. Some new police came in to the room to join the old ones. They asked me did I want food or a drink and that they were not going to beat me or poison me. They had not seen my earlier beatings, why did it enter their minds that I might think they might beat me? Was beating people the standard process? Throughout that time I asked them not to beat Falun Dafa or slander Falun Dafa as good is rewarded with good and bad deeds meets with retribution.

Throughout this time I asked to speak with my embassy. They refused and I was allowed to make no phone calls. In the morning after spending the night in the police cell more officers came in and asked me to go with them. They then drove me to the airport and deported me. I had some money in my wallet and they used it to pay for various things on the way to the airport. When I got on the plane as far as they knew I had only the equivalent of 70 cents in Euro. I then travelled home.

They then told the Irish Embassy lies that I was detained for 2 hours and that they had treated me well. Total lies. Hopefully some of what I said to the police officers I met awakened their good nature and perhaps they will think twice about beating good people next time.

Gerald O’Connor

Practitioner from Ireland