With 2011 being the 100-year anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, Falun Gong practitioners in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, and surrounding areas have faced harassment from the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the Domestic Security Division, local police stations, and their neighbourhood committees. They were told to write guarantees to renounce practising Falun Gong. When they refused, they faced threats to be sent to a forced brainwashing centre or a detention centre. In some communities every Falun Gong practitioner was forced to write the guarantee. This is because many overseas Chinese would visit China to join the celebration of Xinhai Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was trying to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from revealing its persecution of Falun Gong.
The 100-year anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution took place on October 10th, 2011. Shortly before the anniversary, the 610 Office in Wuhan orchestrated the arrests of nearly 90 Falun Gong practitioners in Wuhan. At least 41 practitioners were local practitioners residing in Wuhan. The arrests were conducted by the Homeland Security Division and the Domestic Security Division of the Wuhan Police Department.
The police raided the homes of most of the arrested Falun Gong practitioners. The families of Mr. Zhang Weijie, Mr. Zhang Su, Mr. Zhang Weiming and at least a dozen more arrested practitioners were not informed of their whereabouts or the locations of their detention. Nearly all Falun Gong practitioners in Wuchang have faced harrassment and threats from the local 610 Office.
It is believed that Wu Xukun, the head of the Wuhan 610 Office, was the mastermind behind the escalated suppression. Since April 20, 2011 there have been reports of local Falun Gong practitioners being followed and monitored. The local authorities paid surprise visits to their homes and threatened to lock them up in brainwashing centres so that they would not be able to meet with anyone from Taiwan during the celebration of the Xinhai Revolution. In addition, Mr. Peng Liang and three other Falun Gong practitioners were tried on the morning of May 31st, 2011, the same day that the Chairman of the CCP visited Hubei Province.
At the end of September 2011, 20,000 police officers started patrolling the city daily. At any given time there were several thousand police officers patrolling the streets.
At the time of this writing, the 610 Office in Hubei Province continues to arrest Falun Gong practitioners and detain them in Hubei Province Brainwashing Centre or other forced brainwashing centres, where they face brainwashing and torture.
The following is a compilation of some reports:
Repeated Harrassment at Home
On May 19th, 2011, chairman Zhang of the Minzhu Road Neighbourhood Committee in Xiaodongmen, Wuchang District led a group of people to the home of Ms. Gao Bizhen. Ms. Gao recounts her experience:
"I knew they were coming to take me away, so I ignored the doorbell. They kept on ringing the bell and just would not leave. My daughter, who is suffering from depression because I have been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for practising Falun Gong, became upset, so I removed the bell. They began to pound on the door. They shouted, demanding I open the door. The noise was deafening. They did not stop until about 5:30 p.m. But they started again at 7:00 p.m. Fortunately I had a stainless steel door. If it had been a wooden door, they would have knocked it down. My daughter was so disturbed that she had to take her medication early. My neighbours started to complain. One commented that the officers had nothing better to do. Another said that the officers would do nothing to stop corruption but would not stop harassing a nice old lady who practises Falun Gong and tries to be a better person."
Ms. Gao added, "The 610 Office in Wuchang District, the Zhongnan Police Station, and the Neighbourhood Committee barge into my home and harass me from time to time. It is worse before any so-called politically sensitive dates. Between April 21st and May 19th this year, there was hardly any day that they didn't come harass me at my home."
Similar harrassment has been reported from nearly every district in Wuhan City, and it continues at the time of writing.
In April 2011, Ye Xinmin, chairman of the Political and Judiciary Committee in Hanyang District, was seen with a group of men attempting to harass and arrest a Falun Gong practitioner at her home. On April 20th, 2011, Wan Min, a police officer, and five other officers from Zhongnan Road Police Station in Wuchang District lured Ms. Yi Suhua, a Falun Gong practitioner in her 80s, to open the door. They barged in and looted her collection of Falun Gong books, her personal belongings, and a scroll of Chinese calligraphy with the words "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" written by her husband, who is deceased.
In May 2011, the police chief of Xujiapeng Police Station and two police officers from Hongshan Police Sub-Bureau ransacked the home of Ms. Zhao Zhenqiao, a Falun Gong practitioner residing in Wuchang, and confiscated her Falun Gong books.
In June 2011, the chairman of the 610 Office in Qingshan District, Yuan Lianghong, and a group of police officers arrived at the home of Ms. Zhu Chunlian. They arrested her and detained her for 50 days, during which she was subjected to torture that caused her lower legs to become swollen and her blood pressure to skyrocket.
On July 6th, 2011, six police officers barged into the home of Ms. Ding Xiaoqing, a Falun Gong practitioner living in Baijinlingyu near Hankou Train Station. They went into the bedrooms and took photos. They also stole data from her husband's mobile phone. Since that day, undercover police officers have been spotted daily near her home. She has been getting harrassment calls.
On July 19th, 2011, a Falun Gong practitioner living on Huangpu Blvd. in Jiang'an District named Ouyang was harassed at her home.
In August 2011, three men from Dongxihu Farm, Li Yuqing, Dai Fangwei and Deng Xiaodong, under the order of Cao Bin, chairman of the local 610 Office, started harassing many Falun Gong practitioners in the district. They made practitioners sign guarantees to stop practising.
These are just representative examples. There are a lot more Falun Gong practitioners that have faced harrassment and arrests, but it is a challenge to come up with the actual statistics. Many practitioners living on Shouyi Road in Wuchang and Jiangjun Road in Hankou have been forced to leave home to avoid persecution.
Massive Arrests
Between January and September 2011, at least 95 Falun Gong practitioners were reported to have been arrested, but eight escaped. Between January and March 2011, at least 18 were arrested. Between April and May 13th, at least 59 were arrested, but 4 escaped. Between July and September, at least 16 were arrested, and one escaped.
These arrests are notable for the following:
1. Arrests Begin after Visit from a Top CCP Official
In early April 2011, Zhou Yongkang, a top CCP official actively participating in the persecution of Falun Gong, visited Wuhan City. Massive arrests of Falun Gong practitioners took place two weeks after his visit.
On April 20th, 2011, the Wuhan 610 Office arrested at least 10 Falun Gong practitioners in Wuchang and 16 practitioners within 3 days. At the end of May 2011, at least 45 Falun Gong practitioners were reported to have been arrested in the city, with the majority of the arrests in Wuchang.
Domestic Security Division No. 1 and No. 6 of the Wuhan Police Department, the Domestic Security Division of Wuchang District Police Sub-bureau, and the Domestic Security Division of Qingshan District Police Sub-bureau also took part in the massive arrests. It is believed that the Wuhan Police Department has formed a joint task force to execute the massive arrests.
2. Despicable Approaches to the Arrests
The Domestic Security Team consists of special agents and spies. This might be the reason why the police were able to arrest many practitioners.
Mr. Fengzhen from Wuchang was lured from work to his home when the police arrested him. Mr. Li Guohua was arrested in his own store. Mr. Fu Guomin was arrested on his way to work. Mr. Xia Yang, Mr. Li Huosheng, Mr. Feng Yun, and Ms. Cai Xiuying were all alone at their homes when they were arrested. Ms. Han Shuhua and Ms. Tian Xi'e were on their way home when they were arrested by police officers waiting for them.
At around 8:00 a.m. on May 5th, Mr. Zhang Xu and his wife Ms. Cheng Jing were at the rail ticket office of Changqing Garden when they were arrested by five men. Mr. Zhang was choked and pepper sprayed in his eyes while being arrested. Then he was tackled to the ground. The couple was taken to Changqing Garden. Nearly 20 people were reported to have participated in the arrest of the couple.
Ms. Xu Jieying, an accountant in her 40s at the Agriculture Division of the Wuhan Government, fell from the third floor when she was trying to escape from 610 Office agents in Wuhan City and Jiangxia District and officers from Xinjiang Province. She had a chest rib fracture, thigh fracture, and facial fracture, as well as many other injuries to her body.
3. Confiscation of Personal Property, Location of Detention Kept Secret
On the morning of April 20th, 2011, Mr. Xiong Weiming from Wuchang was arrested at his home in Youyi sub-district in Xujiapeng. His home was ransacked, and his PC, laptop, and printer were confiscated. Cigarette butts were everywhere and the place reeked of cigarette smoke even though Mr. Xiong does not smoke.
After each reported arrest, the Falun Gong practitioners' family never received any notice about or the reason for the arrest. Their family asked the local police, but neither the 610 Office nor the Domestic Security Division would acknowledge the arrests. It took a very long time for their families to find out that the practitioners were imprisoned in a forced brainwashing centre or a detention centre.
At around 5:00 p.m., April 20th, 2011, the 610 Office in Wuhan City and police officers from the Domestic Security Division of the Wuhan City Police Department and Zhongnan Police Station in Wuchang District were led by employees from the Industrial Equipment Installation Company of Baoye Conglomerate to the home of Mr. Zhen Dongsheng, a local Falun Gong practitioner. Mr. Zhen was out, but the police confiscated two PCs, one laptop, two printers, and some other personal belongings. The police also threatened his family and harassed his child at his school. They also had the neighbourhood committee keep Mr. Zhen under watch and report anything suspicious. Since then, Mr. Zhen and his family have been living in fear and under constant pressure.
(To Be Continued)
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/10/6/247566.html
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