Bearing Witness to History: Taking the Train to Beijing to Appeal

By a Falun Dafa Practitioner from China

December 18, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) On July 19, 1999, I saw several Falun Dafa practitioners whose faces were familiar to me on the express train #393 from Jiamusi to Beijing, but I didn't know their names. The train started, people were chatting, and it appeared that this train was no different from any other train.

Not long after the train started, I heard a practitioner next to me say that a boy who was reading Zhuan Falun had been taken off the train. The boy and his mother were quickly removed at station stop.

After arriving at Harbin Train Station, the train stayed for a long while after the passengers who had reached their destination got off. The passengers remaining on the train became irritated. Suddenly, several groups of police ran to the train. My compartment was instantly swamped with policemen, who blocked both exits. Several people jumped over a seat to speak with another passenger. One officer came to my seat before I even knew what was going on. The police ordered a couple sitting near the window to collect their luggage and get off the train. I assumed the police must be after some criminals. However, the male passenger calmly prepared his luggage and said to me: "Don't be scared. It doesn't matter." and left the train. On the way, we hadn't spoken a word to each other. His calm in such an intense situation seemed to say he hadn't done anything against the law or his conscience. Startled by this unforeseen event, I was pondering what was going on, when a practitioner I knew came and briefly told me that the police were arresting people in every compartment and they appeared to arrest only Falun Gong practitioners, including a fellow female practitioner in our compartment, who was removed from the train. "What!" I was very surprised. I turned around; the practitioner was indeed no longer on the train. It had happened so fast I didn't even notice. When I looked through the window, many faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, passed by outside. They looked calm, peaceful, and fearless. Before I could focus on the face of one practitioner, another would pass by. Many practitioners passed the window side by side. Time seemed to stand still, and I was left with an impression of overlapped bodies of practitioners. I did not know where they would be taken.

I don't know how many practitioners were on that train nor how many were taken off. Only two people remained in the two six-person benches facing each other in our compartment. We sat quietly looking at each other, and all sorts of feelings welled up in my heart. I had asked for the ticket to Beijing from the practitioner who was taken off the train last. I was determined to reach in Beijing and express the will of Falun Dafa practitioners no matter what happened.

To prevent practitioners from appealing and to have plenty of time to arrest practitioners, the policemen held the Beijing-bound train for over two hours.

Finally, the train arrived at Beijing Train Station. Passengers were separated for interrogation and interception of Falun Gong practitioners. I got off the train and waited for a while to see how many people I could meet. I saw a woman who was seven or eight months pregnant, a thin middle aged woman with two children (the mother of one of the two children had been taken away), and several young people in their twenties. The atmosphere around the train station was intense. We quickly left, setting off to appeal for fair treatment toward Falun Dafa.

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