“Zero-Out” Campaign in Wuhan City, Hubei Province

(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s “Zero-Out Campaign,” started in early 2020, is a concerted effort aiming to force every Falun Gong practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith.

Since March 12, 2021, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) and 610 Office in Huangpi District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province have instigated officers of local police stations, staff members from the local street and residential area committees to harass practitioners. 

The PLAC and 610 Office are agencies tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong. Both are given authority to command the public security and judiciary branches. The deputy secretary of a regions’ PLAC often serves as the director of the 610 Office. 

In order to force the practitioners to sign statements to renounce their faith, the authorities forcibly took pictures of them, threatened them, and sent them to brainwashing classes. In the hot summer, they cut off practitioners’ water supply and electricity. Some officers installed surveillance cameras in front of practitioners’ homes to monitor them.

In the past three months, seven practitioners in Qianchuan Street, Huangpi District have been arrested or harassed.

Ms. Li Yuzhen, 71, was arrested by two policemen from Qianchuan Police Station. She was detained in a brainwashing class and was deprived of sleep for four days.

Ms. Li Juhua, 66, was harassed and threatened multiple times. The police cut off her water and electricity. She could not live a normal life and was forced to live away from home for over two months.

Ms. Xia Bayun, 66, was harassed and threatened a dozen times. As she refused to sign the renouncing statement, she was arrested by police from Qianchuan Police Substation on July 7. The police refused to tell her family where she is being detained.

Ms. Wang Fengyin, a 67-year-old retired teacher, Ms. Fang Xirong, 66, Ms. Xia Chunmei, 75, and Mr. Zhang Huanyun, 74, were also harassed.

In addition to harassing the practitioners, the authorities in Huangpi District also set up stages at busy areas on Tianhe Street and Hengdian Street in early May 2021, and performed shows to slander Falun Gong.