Latest News from China - 02/11/2001

[Mainland China] The first-hand testimony of a policeman who personally witnessed the Tiananmen "self-immolation" incident Several days ago, a policeman went to visit a relative and talked about the shocking "self-immolation" incident on Tiananmen Square, which took place two days before the Chinese New Year. The following is what he said, "I was stationed on Tiananmen Square that day, and I happened to be standing very close to where the incident occurred. I personally saw some other people throwing gasoline on those people who supposedly set themselves on fire. I was totally shocked and did not understand what I witnessed until later. How could the government do something like this?" [Laiwu City, Shandong Province] The police persecute practitioner Shang Qingling to death The Laiwu City Detention Center is horrifying place, where many practitioners have been tortured and abused. Shang Qingling, 38, was a resident in the township of Lixin. Because he insisted on practicing Falun Gong, he was arrested on December 28^th, 2000 and thrown into the Laiwu City Detention center. The police tried to force him to write statements attacking Falun Gong and expressing remorse. He refused to do so and started a hunger strike in protest. On the 9^th day of his hunger strike, the police placed long handcuffs and heavy shackles on him, and forced-fed him with flour soup. The force-feeding caused severe infections of his lungs and trachea. The police finally released him and rushed him to the hospital, but it was too late. He passed away on January 31^st, 2001. [Yushu City, Jilin Province] A solemn declaration from the family and friends of practitioner Wang Xianyou, who was persecuted to death We are family and friends of Wang Xianyou, who was a resident of Yushu City, Jilin Province. The police arrested Wang Xianyou in February of 2000 for participating in a Falun Gong group practice, and sent him to the Fenjin Labor Camp. At the time, he was in the perfect health. While being forced to perform intensive manual work at the labor camp, he was hit with a heavy object and severely injured. He could no longer move around and had to lie in bed all day. In January of 2001, we suddenly received the news that he had died. When we went to the labor camp to find out what had happened to him, we were told that he died from a heart attack. Regardless of whether he died from the tremendous amount of stress that he had to endure at the labor camp, or whether he was tortured to death, the officials of Jinlin Province and the staff at the Fenjin Labor Camp could not evade the responsibility of causing his death. Wang Xiaoyou was accused of interrupting social order and sent to the labor camps simply for exercising his mind and body. It is a crime to cause injury and even the death of an innocent person, and this must be stopped. We absolutely demand the following:

1. Punish those "law enforcement officials" who were responsible for his death according to the law.
2. Conduct an investigation of his death, and find out what really happened to him.
3. Stop arresting, beating, and persecuting innocent people.

We would like to take this opportunity to warn these "law enforcement officials". Do not use the excuse of following orders to justify your cruelty. There are consequences for both kind deeds and evil deeds. Stopping your evil deeds immediately is your only way out. [Laiwu City, Shandong Province] Local officials persecute Falun Gong practitioners Recently the persecution by a small number of people against Falun Gong practitioners in Laiwu has reached new heights. Between January 2001 and the day that this report was written, in the district of Laicheng alone, 51 practitioners were arrested with criminal charges pending, and another 78 other practitioners were arrested under the charge of "disrupting public order." Nine practitioners including Duan Chonghua, Ma Lei, Wang Hui, Li Songceng, Meng uangbao, Dou Liyun, Liu Hongying, Zhou Xiuqin, and Xu Yinzhong were sent to labor camps. Nearly one hundred practitioners were forced to pay fines ranging from 1000 Yuan to 10,000 Yuan (the average personal income in the cities of China is 500 Yuan per month). Many practitioners were forced to flee from their homes and endure separation from their loved ones. In order to advance his own career, Liu Qin, the head of the Laicheng District Political Security Division, has spearheaded the drive to persecute local Falun Gong practitioners since January. He has led a group of thugs, randomly arresting practitioners and ransacking their homes. Anyone who refused to promise to give up Falun Gong would be beaten, handcuffed, and sent to the detention center. Around 1 PM on January ^th, while riding a bicycle to take her 7-year-old child to school, female practitioner Wang Hui was suddenly attacked by Liu Qin and his goons. In front of her child, they pushed her into the muddy water, put handcuffs on her, beat her, and then took her to the local detention center. She is now serving time in a labor camp. If the families of those practitioners who were arrested for "disrupting public order" did not send Liu Qin a minimum of 500 Yuan, their loved ones would quickly be moved to the local prison to face more serious charges. While being interrogated in the local prison, the practitioners were routinely beaten, kicked and hit with electric batons. The guards tortured the practitioners with a variety of methods, including throwing cold water on them in the height of winter and handcuffing them to power poles with their hands behind their back. Liu Hongying, a 48-year-old practitioner who was an employee of the Transportation Department, was arrested without cause. Because she refused to promise to give up Falun Gong during the interrogation session, Liu Qin and his goons beat her for more than 3 hours. By the time they were done with her, she had lost hearing in both her ears, her face was completely swollen, her nose was broken, and the tissue of both of her feet was torn up. Her chest and back had turned to a dark shade of purple from being repeatedly kicked with steel-toed boots. The following is a list of local officials who are directly responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners:

1. Li Yumei, the newly appointed general secretary of the Laiwu City Communist Party.
2. Zhang Zhengquan, the head of the Laiwu City Politics and Law Commission. His office number is 86-634-62130343.
3. Gao Mingyang, the head of the Laiwu City Police Department Political and Law Division. His office number is 86-634-6221304 or 86-634-6212461. His home number is 86-634-6212461, extension 3014.
4. Zhang Bingyin, the head of a subdivision in the Laicheng District Police Station.
5. Liu Qin, the head of the Laicheng District Political Security Division. His office phone numbers is 86-634-6227184, and then ask for the Political Security Division. His home phone number is 86-634-6227184 extension 5131.

The switchboard number of the Laiwu City Police Department is 86-634-6212461. The switchboard number of the Laicheng District Police Station is 86-634-6227184. The zip code of the Laiwu City Detention Center is 271100. [Tianjin City] News from Tianjin

1. The local authorities conducted a large-scale roundup of Falun Gong practitioners right before the Chinese New Year. Anyone who insisted on practicing Falun Gong was automatically arrested.
2. All the detention centers in Beijing were filled to capacity with Falun Gong practitioners. So many practitioners were stuffed into one room that there was no room for them to lie down to sleep. Therefore, some practitioners (especially those who refused to tell the police their names and addresses) have been sent to detention centers in Tianjin.
3. The recent "voluntary signature petition drive against Falun Gong" is actually an well-organized political maneuver, with the orders being sent down from higher levels of the government. Ranging from top-level city officials to old ladies working for the local residential neighborhood commissions, all the governmental employees have been ordered to collect signatures for the drive. Many old ladies working for local residential neighborhood commissions personally went from door to door collecting signatures. An average person is left with no choice but to sign his name on the petition, since refusing to do so will be considered as an act against the government. In a country like China, how many people have the backbone to conduct such an act of defiance?

[Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province] News from Shenzhen According to insiders, the Shenzhen City government and police department held a meeting recently. They decided to start a new wave of large-scale search and arrest of local practitioners in the near future.