Dafa Practitioners' Upholding their Faith and Police Brutality in Fushun City on and Around July 20th, 1999

From July 19 to the 20th 1999, the Fushun City (in Liaoning Province) authorities dispatched a large number of police officers to illegally arrest the contact persons for each of the Dafa practice sites in the area. They violently kidnapped these practitioners without displaying any legal documents.

In the afternoon of July 20th, upon learning about the arrest of many contact persons who were responsible for these practice sites, other practitioners voluntarily went to appeal to the city government one after another. They peacefully requested the release of those innocent people. As more and more practitioners came, they formed a neat line and stood quietly outside the entrance to the Town Hall.

No one from the city government came out to meet with the practitioners. On the contrary, soon, a large number of police arrived, followed by many military trucks loaded with fully equipped soldiers in riot gear. Afterwards, several additional public transport buses arrived. Many of the practitioners were very young or elderly; and there was a mixture of men and women. They had showed no sign of extreme actions and were defenceless.

In the evening, the police started to take action. They surrounded the practitioners and ordered them to leave. Seeing no quick way to resolve the problem on that day, most practitioners left. Practitioners who refused to leave were dragged to the buses and sent to the police station. They were released after they had been registered there.

In the morning of July 21st, the practitioners once again went to appeal to the city government and peacefully requested the release of those who were arrested. The number was larger than the day before. However, the city government refused to meet with practitioners. Instead they dispatched a large number of police and soldiers, who ordered the practitioners to leave. This time practitioners refused to do so. The city government then ordered the police to forcefully arrest them. Many practitioners were violently arrested and put into a police van.

Then an incredible scene took place; as the police van was about to take off, one practitioner ran into the middle of the road and stopped it. He shouted: "Do not leave! Do not arrest innocent people!" Many more practitioners followed him one after another. They sat on the road to prevent the van from taking off. The police were both amazed and shocked. They furiously tried to arrest the practitioner who first ran into the road; however, other practitioners quickly surrounded and protected him.

After a moment of silence, a large number of police started using inappropriate force against the practitioners: They brutally grabbed those who were sitting on road and threw them aside. Some were thrown on the pavement, some landed on other practitioners who were behind or to the side. The environment became chaotic with practitioners being thrown around and then moving back as the police attempted to clear the road so the police van could slowly inch forward.
From that day on, Fushan practitioners stepped forward one after another.

Starting from the afternoon of July 21st, a large group of practitioners voluntarily went to appeal to the provincial government, provincial committee and the appeals bureau in Beijing.

To stop practitioners from appealing, on the evening of July 21st, the Fushun city government dispatched many policemen and they blocked all the transportation heading to areas outside of the city, especially the trains to Shenyang (the capital city of Liaoning Province) and Beijing. Meanwhile, they set up blockades in every bus and train station and road intersection to prevent practitioners from appealing in Beijing. That night, every street office and police station was filled with arrested practitioners. Even some schools were used to detain practitioners.

Around midnight on July 21st, many practitioners managed to overcome the blockade set up by police and start their journey to Beijing to appeal. Some walked more than forty miles in the dark. They crossed the crop fields, rivers and streams and arrived in Shenyang. Some appealed there and others continued on their journey to Beijing.

Many other practitioners started their journey on July 22nd, to appeal in the provincial committee or Beijing and were arrested and sent back for detention in Fushun. In Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning province, police officers violently beat up practitioners, many of whom were injured. In Beijing, there were so many practitioners arrested after appealing that they even allocated a special train guarded by police just for transporting practitioners back.

On July 22nd, Wu Zhanrui, the contact person of the Fushun Falun Dafa Practice site, was brutally tortured to death by police because he firmly refused to co-operate with their unlawful demands.

During July 22nd and 23rd, after Wu Zhanrui was tortured to death, the police immediately released a large group of practitioners. Among those released were the contact people who had been illegally arrested on July 20th.

During the past three years, other Fushun practitioners who have been tortured to death include the following: Wu Zhanrui, Zhong Yunxiu, Tang Teirong, Liang Shuyun, and Zou Guirong.

Those who were disabled, severely wounded and suffered mental breakdowns as a direct result of torture include: Yuan Peng, Yao Songdong, Huang Ke (Zhong Yunxiu's husband).
As a matter of fact, the majority of practitioners in the Fushun area have been illegally arrested and detained. Many were illegally detained for an extended period of time, subjected to beatings and other means of torture. Some were sentenced to labour camps with sentences as long as ten years.

(1) We suggest that Fushun practitioners collect a list of practitioners who were illegally sentenced to labour camps. This information shall include their names, age, when they were sentenced, length of sentence and by which organization, means of torture they suffered, persons who were involved in the persecution including their information such as names, phone numbers and addresses, etc.

(2) Try to keep a record of the details of the torture, especially the perpetrators' names and identification information.

While collecting and organizing this material detailing the persecution, we need to intensify the clarification of truth to expose the evil and give people a chance to know the truth. This is also helpful for international organizations and overseas practitioners who are trying to rescue them.