What Have the Beijing Olympic Games Brought the People in China?

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are coming. The Olympic Games are supposed to be a good thing, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has turned China upside down on account of it and brought the Chinese people nothing but fear and disaster.

On July 25th, 2008, police in Wanquan County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province arrested Falun Gong practitioners county-wide. So far we have confirmed that at least four from Kongjiazhuang town, Wanquan County were arrested. In other townships and towns in Wanquan County, the police broke into the homes of practitioners after midnight and arrested them. The police confiscated personal property of several practitioners, including TVs, MP3 players, small satellite dishes and their collections of Falun Gong books.

It has been confirmed that at least 16 practitioners in Wanquan County were arrested on July 25th alone. (Their names have not been disclosed.) As for those practitioners that were spared from the massive arrests, they are currently under close watch. The police have hired people to spy on practitioners in their homes. We are trying to find out the total number of arrests that day.

We have learned that police from Chicheng County, Zhangjiakou have set up checkpoints at 11 exits from Wanquan County since June 25th. Everyone who wishes to leave Wanquan County is subject search and inspection, and no one can leave the county without an ID. To prevent Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing, the local authorities ordered employers of practitioners and the local governments to confiscate their IDs by force or lies and have arranged for many people to spy on practitioners, violating their human rights.

Since July 12th, the CCP County committee, as well as Political and Legal Committee, in Chicheng County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province have had many meetings and have ordered that all townships, towns and local governments send local Falun Gong practitioners to brainwashing sessions, and to keep them there through the Olympics and until October 1st.

On the evening of July 20th, 2008, the police arrested all Falun Gong practitioners in Zhangbei County, Zhangjiakou and incarcerated them in a local school where they faced mistreatment.

On July 25th, the police from Guyuan County, Zhangjiakou acted upon the order of the local 610 Office¹ to conduct a massive arrest of Falun Gong practitioners and incarcerate them in a shack near Xiaohezi. There they are brainwashed and mistreated in other ways. So far we have confirmed that Ms. Li Guiling, Ms. Zhang Fengli, Ms. Sun Runtao, Mr. Xiao Zhanping from the Traffic Bureau, an elderly practitioner from Sirenwa, Shandianhe and seven other Falun Gong practitioners are the victims. We have not completed the investigation on the situation in other townships. In addition, Ms. Wang Yulian was arrested and sent to a forced brainwashing center in Zhangjiakou. All the Falun Gong practitioners have been told to submit their IDs or be sent to a brainwashing centre. Not long ago, policeman Meng Xiangui from the Public Security Bureau (PSB) led a group of policemen to the home of a practitioner named Liang Jianwen and confiscated IDs for he and his wife, Ms. Wang Yonghua.

When the police in Xuanhua District conducted their arrests, some practitioners were cooking, some were looking after their children and some were looking after their elders. When the police arrested these practitioners, the elderly people and young children, they took care of, were left alone with no one to look after them. Some young children were forcefully sent to their neighbour's home. These elderly people and children have suffered severe emotional trauma.

Guards are manning the checkpoints all over Zhangjiakou City. Even the guards' friends, relatives or acquaintances are not allowed to enter the villages without an ID. There are hired guards on buses that randomly check passengers' IDs. Those people without an ID are not allowed to ride the bus. Even bus drivers dare not allow people without an ID to board the bus. Every person carrying a bag is subject to being searched. Bespectacled people are ordered to remove their glasses for security checks. Those who carry bottled water are required to drink from the bottle to prove it's really water.

Lately, shopping malls and shopping centres in Zhangjiakou started to ask for their customers' IDs before they are allowed to shop. Even their own employees are required to show their IDs. Merchants are forbidden to go to Beijing to shop for new inventory. Out-of-town day labourers working in Beijing are sent back to their home towns. On July 10th, all the kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges were forced to close. (It was alleged that there was a secret order on July 8th to shut down all the schools on July 10th.) Students from those schools that do not have an entrance exam are forbidden to go to school. Residents must wait in line for hours at petrol stations to obtain a limited amount of petrol. Sometimes residents cannot get any petrol at all. In addition, the petrol price keeps rising. In some places, produce vendors are forbidden to sell vegetables on the streets. Residents have to travel far to do their grocery shopping. Some businesses are forced to shut down temporarily. Some business owners are even forced to put a notice on the door, claiming they were shut down for interior decoration. Meanwhile, the local governments are tearing down houses in the city. People are looking for temporary housing. The local authorities force people to apply for a temporary residence ID or be sent back to their home towns. Guards wear red bands on their arms and patrol the streets around the clock. There is so much tension in such a small city as Zhangjiakou, and local residents have no place to voice their complaints.

This goes to show that while the CCP advocates a "peaceful Olympic Games", the Chinese people are not being left in peace. While the CCP advocates a "harmonious, free, tolerant and equal Olympic Games", it brings the Chinese people nothing but fear, uneasiness and disaster.

We call upon international human rights organizations and kind-hearted people to extend your help to end the persecution of Falun Gong.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/8/1/183219.html