Five Practitioners Arrested and Charged with Illegal Assembly

Ms. Tang Xiangzhi, about 70 years old, is a Falun Gong practitioner in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province. Before practising Falun Gong, she had severe gastric disease, diabetes, headaches, and toothaches. After practising Falun Gong, all of her illnesses disappeared. She follows the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and is a good person in society and with her family. This good person was recently persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On the morning of March 18th, 2009, Ms. Tang walked to Suxianling Mountain. On the way, she met four Falun Gong practitioners. They were tired and took a rest in a small pavilion near the mountain. A police patrol soon passed the pavilion. The officers approached and charged the group with illegal assembly. The police refused to hear any explanation and forcibly took them to the Suxian District Police Station.

At 3 p.m., three police officers from the Suxian District National Security Team drove a police vehicle to Ms. Tang's home. Without a search warrant, they took Falun Gong books, videotapes of lectures, audiotapes, Falun Gong materials, recorders, two jade items, 800 yuan in cash¹, vouchers worth 200 yuan, and other items. Ms. Tang kindly explained the facts about Falun Gong to those policemen, hoping they would understand and not help the CCP. However, she and the four other practitioners were still detained for two weeks. Their families were forced to pay boarding fees of 300-500 yuan.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/12/198837.html