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Bearing Witness to History: A Difficult Way to Appeal
By a practitioner from Hengshui City, Hebei Province
(Clearwisdom.net) Picture 1: In the morning of July 18, 1999 Around the whole country, in each province, each city, and each county,
government institutions enter "Grade One" war status. Layers of guards
are arranged around the meeting room. Inside the meeting room the main leaders
of the CCP, government, army, police departments, legal system, appeals offices,
jails and detention centers listen to the secret order issued by Jiang Zemin:
late at night, police in the whole country will take action simultaneously to
arrest Falun Gong contact persons in different areas. Persons participating in
the meeting cannot leave or enter casually, cannot make phone calls to the
outside, and cannot send any messages out. Picture 2: At 12:00 a.m. of July 18 to 2:00 a.m. of July 19, 1999 Around the whole country, in each province, city, and county, policemen break
into the homes of Falun Gong contact persons in different areas. Without search
warrants or the permission of any law articles, they illegally ransack homes,
confiscating Dafa books, Dafa lecture audiotapes and videotapes, recorders and
even money. Contact persons are arrested. The persecution of Falun Gong launched
by Jiang Zemin has begun. Pictures 3: At 6:00 a.m. of July 19, 1999 Falun Gong practitioners go to practice sites to do the exercises as usual
and hear that the contact persons have been arrested. Dafa practitioners from
different practice sites immediately go to the local appeals offices to report
the situation and request the release of the contact persons who were illegally
arrested. The officers say, "This is the order of Jiang Zemin. The contact
persons have been sent to the provincial government. You can go to the
provincial government to appeal." Dafa practitioners try to take the bus to
the capital of the province. However, the road leading to the capital has been
blocked by policemen. They intercept all vehicles going to the capital, checking
the ID of passengers one by one and forcing them to tell the purpose of their
trip to the capital. Even if one just wants to visit relatives or friends, he
has to give a street number and phone number where they live. He is not allowed
to take the vehicle until the police call his friends to prove he is telling the
truth. As for those people in simple clothes and those who look like Falun Gong
practitioners, policemen drive them off the vehicles, beating and kicking them
and taking them to detention centers. Picture 4: At 11:00 a.m. of July 19, in front of the provincial government
and provincial appeals office Some Falun Gong practitioners from each city or county ride bicycles in order
to break through police barricades on the roadways. They arrive at the
provincial appeals offices to report the local situation and request the release
of the arrested practitioners. The reply is, "This is the order of Jiang
Zemin. The contact persons have been sent to Beijing." At this moment, the number of Falun Gong practitioners arriving at the
provincial appeals offices has reached over 10,000. Falun Gong practitioners can
do nothing faced with this situation but go to Beijing to appeal. But the bus in
the provincial capital tells practitioners that the authorities forbid Falun
Gong practitioners to take the bus to Beijing. No vehicles going to Beijing will
allow Falun Gong practitioners to get on. In order to secure the release of their fellow practitioners and in order to
say a true word to the leader of the government, practitioners walk on foot on
the streets of the capital, tolerating hunger and braving the cold rain and
wind. They hold up their heads and throw out their chests. Among them are
principals, teachers, students, factory managers, commercial managers, cadres,
retired cadres, retired workers, servicemen, and even peasants who just put down
their hoes and had mud on their feet. There are handicapped youth, young mothers
with 6-month-old babies held close to their chest and sixty year old ladies. In
the heavy rain, practitioners help each other in the troop, hugging the little
practitioners in turn. Kindhearted residents of the capital seeing this, take
the initiative to hold up umbrellas for practitioners hugging the babies.
Peddlers selling vegetables, workers, and all the populace witnessing this know
that Falun Gong has suffered great wrongful treatment. Picture 5: At 10:00 p.m. on July 19, 1999 The sky is cloudy. On the way to the suburb leading to Beijing, large groups
of policemen and police vehicles savagely stretch across the road, intercepting
all vehicles and all Dafa practitioners on foot going to Beijing to appeal.
Under the dark curtain of night, in the muddy road, about ten thousand Falun
Gong practitioners are intercepted in the wild open country by the police. The
right to appeal that the Chinese Constitution entrusts to citizens is discarded
in the dark night. The practitioners are pulled back to their residential areas
and are monitored or fined. Picture 6: From 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. on July 19, 1999 The unyielding Dafa practitioners divide into small groups and proceed. They
ride bicycles in groups of two or three, rushing on the way to Beijing. On the
way the hotels are controlled by police, the vehicles are controlled by police,
the ticket office at the railway stations are also controlled by police, and the
trains do not enter Beijing station. Even the taxis are threatened by police,
"If there are any persons from other cities, directly deliver them to the
jail." However, kindhearted Chinese take the initiative to help Dafa practitioners.
In the dark night, some unemployed workers rent a bus and send it to Dafa
practitioners so they can avoid the police. Taxi drivers escort Dafa
practitioners free of charge and help them to buy train tickets leaving Beijing. Picture 7: On July 20, 1999 Beijing under martial law A portion of Dafa practitioners from around the whole country, from each
province, city, and county make it through the layers of attempted interception
and sieges and into Beijing, arriving at Tiananmen Square and the central
appeals office. Kindhearted Dafa practitioners think here they can find
officials who will listen to the populace's voice. Here they can say a true word
to the government. Here they can carry out the right to appeal that the
Constitution entrusts to citizens. Totally out of their expectations, they see
that the central appeals office is also guarded by police and refuses to hear
them speak or to accept their letters of appeal. Pictures 8: July 21 From Jinan, Xinjiang... as soon as the Dafa practitioners from far away get
off the train, they are arrested by police. Dafa practitioners coming to Beijing
from thousands of kilometers away have no place to appeal. They have been hungry
and thirsty for three days. Beijing's temperature reaches 41 degrees C (106
degrees F). The burning intense summer heat bakes Beijing city. The policemen
and police vehicles on Tiananmen Square increase. Pedestrians are not allowed to
speak. Whenever two to three persons walk together they are arrested. Picture 9: July 22, 1999 The arrests reach a peak this day. Dafa practitioners coming to Beijing to
appeal are entrapped by plain-clothes policemen who pretend to be practitioners
from the Shijingshan area. They are forced into buses driving to Asia Olympic
Village stadium. At the high temperature of 41 degree C (106 degree F),
policemen squeeze practitioners onto the buses, not supplying food or water, not
allowing them to go to the bathroom. Dafa practitioners recite loudly Teacher's
poems. Non-existence To live with no pursuits, (Hong Yin) True Nature Revealed Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, the
will unflinching (Essentials for Further Advancement II) Their voices are so loud that they shake heaven and earth. The Falun appears.
Dafa practitioners' tears stream down their faces with gratitude to the Teacher. Pictures 10: At 4:00 p.m. of July 22, 1999 Beijing broadcasts the "banning" decision of the Civil
Administration Ministry and Public Security Ministry. It is the fifth day since
Jiang Zemin issued the order to arrest Falun Gong practitioners. Dafa
practitioners coming to Beijing to appeal become the object of persecution of
Jiang's clique. On Tiananmen Square and throughout Beijing city, police vehicles
appear one by one, policemen intercept pedestrians, and when they see
practitioners they beat them at will in public or force them into the vehicles
and take them to jail. Picture 11: July 23, 1999 Jiang Zemin clamors with rage, "Eliminate Falun Gong in three
months!" Overnight, the appeals office becomes the specific institution
used to seize Falun Gong practitioners. Facing this catastrophe, out of
responsibility to the people, Falun Gong practitioners tell the related officers
honestly that practicing Falun Gong has only benefits to the country while doing
no harm, and share their personal experience and testimony. However, what waits
for them are heavy and cold handcuffs. They are stuffed into the police vehicles
and thrown into the dark jails. Jiang Zemin's large-scale persecution of Falun
Gong has widely begun. Picture 12: July 24, 1999 The detention centers, labor camps and jails of each province, city and
county across the entire country are filled up with Dafa practitioners. They are
forced to recite the "Jail Rules." They suffer various atrocities
including wearing death penalty instruments, heavy handcuffs, and shackles,
being bound by strings, shocked by electric batons and having nails driven into
their fingers. What kind of crimes have Falun Gong practitioners committed? Why did Jiang
Zemin's clique oppose the wishes of people becoming healthy and regaining high
morality? Under such circumstances, those Falun Gong practitioners who dare to
tell the truth and dare to appeal for the country and for the people openly are
really outstanding Chinese citizens. |