October 1st is the National Day of the People's Republic of China. Thus, in the early morning many local people from those and from other provinces came to Tiananmen Square to watch the national flag-raising ceremony. Tiananmen Square was also a place where many Falun Dafa practitioners, both local and from other provinces, came to Hongfa (introduce Fa to the public), and to peacefully appeal to the government with their benevolent hearts. Very strong messages were sent to the government: "Release innocent Falun Gong practitioners, and let Falun Gong practitioners exercise their basic human rights guaranteed by China's constitution!" However, some practitioners did not even have a chance to say a word before being brutally beaten down to the ground by plain-clothed policemen. Crowds of people stopped to watch these crucial scenes. The following is what I saw.
Around 8:30am, I arrived at the Square and saw lots of people watching the ceremony. Some armed policemen in uniform surrounded the flag site while other plain-clothed policemen were trying to catch Dafa practitioners. I saw a female practitioner in her 30's arrested without showing any resistance but who kept saying loudly: "Falun Dafa is good!" When she was dragged out of the crowd, both of her eyes had been beaten until bruised and swollen. Being beaten all the way to the police car, she never stopped saying: "Falun Dafa is good." All Dafa practitioners faced these harsh situations with their most benevolent hearts.
At this moment, many other Dafa practitioners were crushed into a circle formed by armed policemen. Practitioners both inside and outside of the circle shouted together: "Falun Dafa is indeed good!" A middle-aged aunt, after being detained in the police bus, opened the window, smiled, and used precious short time to introduce Fa to the crowds around the bus. She looked so calm and composed as if she had not even been detained in a police bus. I heard her explanation to the crowds with a southern accent: "Our Falun Dafa is an orthodox cultivation practice, is the true law! We are all trying to be good people by learning the Fa. However, they (Jiang Zemin) do not allow us to be good people, they are afraid of good people!" Pointing to those fierce-looking policemen near her, who were still busy dragging practitioners into the bus, she continued: "they do not allow us to tell the truth, so you should not believe what they say. What was reported on TV were all fabrications and fake stories." A lot of people stood around the bus, looked upon them, and listened very intently. Policemen could not drive the crowds away. Next to the aunt, a young girl with glasses also spoke to the crowds: "First labeling Falun Gong as a cult, and then fabricating laws, were not legitimate, and such actions violated the constitution." The people around all listened quietly. Some nodded and some were moved to tears. Some people asked: "is it right that the government does not allow them to speak?" Their Hongfa in this short period of time was interfered with several times by policemen. Policemen even threatened the young girl with fists. However, the two smiled the whole time, facing both policemen and the public. Would people know what they had to give up in order to be able to simply speak those few words? When the bus engine started, the Hongfa was still continuing. An old country lady seated on the back seat of the bus also kept shouting: "Falun Dafa is really good, Falun Dafa is good!" She seemed humble and not that good at speech, so she used all of her energy to just repeat the simple sentence. The scene at that moment deeply moved people's hearts.
The Square was in chaos at about 9:30am. Dafa practitioners stood out one after another, unfurled the banners and shouted "Falun Dafa is righteous!". Although continuously beaten and tortured by evil scoundrels, Dafa practitioners still stood out bravely. I also witnessed another touching scene:
When a humble couple saw that many practitioners were being severely beaten, the husband gripped his wife's hands firmly to prevent her from stepping forward. After a moment of impasse, the wife eventually got out from her husband's grip, and walked into the circle formed by the policemen. She glanced back at her husband and they stared at each other for several seconds. I noticed that her husband's eyes were filled with tears, apparently reluctant to part with his wife. But he remained silent. The wife finally walked with determination into the crowds of practitioners who were being beaten. She then shouted along with all the others: "Falun Dafa is good!" The husband quickly disappeared into the crowds that were being dispersed by policemen. Maybe they had children waiting for them at home. What were they after? Every Dafa practitioner had his or her own family and/or children at home. I believe that many families of the Dafa practitioners hold correct views about Dafa. Although they didn't want to lose their beloved family members, they would look after and support them quietly. Those people are great! Everybody has witnessed that Jiang Zemin used wickedness to attack kindness while ignoring the voice of the international community, the consciousness of the Chinese people, and the future of the country.
The beatings and arrests still continue here! Watching many genuine Dafa practitioners protect Dafa by sacrificing their own lives and blood awoke many people's consciences, and more people became serious and started thinking. Many of them broke into tears and might question in their hearts: Should the government treat their own people like this? I remembered that one Dizi [disciple] once told me: in order to help people understand Dafa, to awaken people's consciences, to help people cherish the opportunity to cultivate in Dafa, and to expose the evil, they would go to Tiananmen square to unfurl "Falun Dafa" banners and the Falun emblem, and to show the world there was still such a great cultivation way with people who truly practiced compassion. They protected the banners so the world could still have hope. I asked her, "How would you protect the banner?" "With my life" she replied. "They would not take my banner away unless it was over my dead body." I was deeply moved. These people, through years of cultivation, have really reached the state of selflessness, fulfilling their time-honored vows.
Practitioners' blood was all over Tiananmen Square. Immediately after the police beat practitioners, cleaning vehicles came to clean up the bloodstains. Amidst the police brutality and commotion, we could hear the national anthem. The scum were trying to drown out the voices of practitioners and to cover up their own evil behavior. Practitioners continued to stand out and talk to the crowds about Dafa and their own experiences. Against the beautiful scenery of Tiananmen Square was contrasted the unarmed practitioners being brutally beaten by uniformed and plain-clothes police. The howls of policemen were mixed together with the national anthem. This was happening in this new century. On this Oct 1st in the new China, reality mocked the idealistic patriotism of the national anthem.
I thought to myself: Only Dafa practitioners dared to stand up against all obstacles and hardships, to expose the evils committed by those scum, to awaken the kindness in peoples' hearts using their own lives, and to let the world know of their innocence. All kind-hearted people, do you know why Dafa practitioners are doing all this? We hope you would seriously try to understand Dafa. Please give us your support.
Among these innocent practitioners, some came to Beijing alone, and some brought their families. There was a woman holding a baby only 40 days old. Why did they come here? It was because Jiang Zemin slandered us using his vicious maneuver: making people go against us using dirty tricks. In other words, to achieve their personal interests and political goals, they not only allowed but also encouraged and forced people to harm each other, and even further, to kill each other. However, our Dafa practitioner would not allow this to happen.
But the shameless scum even claimed that practitioners damaged our country's image. This reminded me of one scene: I saw a plain-clothed policeman grip a woman's neck and force her to enter the police bus. This woman was amenably getting onto the police bus. But all of the sudden, one policeman yanked at and pulled out her hair. I was within the distance of one meter or so and clearly heard the sound of it. Another police officer went to this ruffian and said: "Watch out! There are too many people around." Therefore, no one could imagine how they must torture these innocent people in jail with no one watching. That officer seemed care about their image. They let every foreigner see clearly the so-called human rights and democracy in China: they kicked and beat the elderly at will in front of everyone, and ruthlessly took babies away from mothers. One middle-aged man was beaten so badly; his face swelled and his legs were crippled. Some practitioners were dragged on their feet for over 10 meters. Some were bleeding. There was blood on the ground and on the clothes of onlookers. Some were laid down on the floor and could not even move. A little girl cried when watching a relative being beaten, "Why do you have to beat people?"; she was pushed away by the police. Many onlookers shed tears and sighed upon witnessing this. But they dared not to help stop the inhuman action. A foreign tourist was watching, and very confused.
Is it that only the evil powers can announce their venomous lies on the national day of new China while the righteous voices cannot be heard? Is it that whoever wants to cultivate to be better person has to pay the price of being tortured and even being deprived of every human right? These kind people who brought their elderly relatives, carried their babies, and came from a long way off, just wanted to say a fair word about Dafa. How could you say that they were trying to attack and overthrow the government? Some did not even bring any change of clothes. They traveled a long way only to appeal peacefully with their pure and kind hearts. They protected their belief using their own lives. But why did Jiang's regime viciously torture them? It is because those with fears were not practitioners: they feared that their evildoings would be exposed, feared the power of justice, and feared the voice of justice.
All kind-hearted people, please give us your support. We practitioners are people who cultivate towards becoming better and kinder. Through studying Dafa, we now see that human morality is going downward and is at the root of this degeneration. We feel obligated to stand up and to expose the evil.
A Dafa practitioner in China
October 4, 2000