[Minghui Net] On January 1st, I was sent to Beijing's Chaoyang District Detention Center for validating Dafa at Tiananmen Square. As soon as we arrived, we were surrounded by fully armed policemen. Several policemen walked back and forth between us, shouting, and carrying electric batons and rubber tubes. One policeman fiercely kicked each practitioner in the back, including pregnant women. Then they grabbed us by the hair and beat us. They made us undress and put our chins against a wall while they searched and examined us. In this way, about 200 practitioners were dispatched one by one to cells, while being yelled at and abused by policemen, guards, and criminals.

In order to validate Dafa and resist our illegal detention, all the practitioners in our cell went on a hunger strike and did not report our names and addresses. All kinds of persecution were used against us from that day on.

Under orders from the guards, the head prisoner of our cell demanded that everyone who went on a hunger strike squat down with their hands on their heads. We were forced to squat this way without moving for several hours, during which time we were not permitted to use the bathroom. Around 8pm, I was brought to the torture room. Three prisoners forced me to lie on a big board, then pressed and tied me to it. They separated my hands and legs and tied them tightly with tape from head to toe. This made it impossible to move my body. Some practitioners were asked to take off their trousers and expose their private parts. Luckily, I escaped being undressed, but after 17 hours on the board, when I wanted to relieve myself, the prisoner said: "Those who took off their trousers can relieve themselves on the board. Those who did not take off their trousers should relieve themselves in their trousers. This is the regulation." Prisoners called this method being "on the big board."

As soon as I closed my eyes, the prisoners kicked me. A guard came by and said that if I shut my eyes, they would keep me "sober" with cold wind through an open door. I told them with patience that they were committing karma. The prisoners said, "As long as you practitioners do not eat, those of us in the same cell have to watch you and we're not allowed to sleep. Since we also suffer when you are tortured, we hate you, and we will beat you until you can no longer endure it." Later, I saw 34 practitioners with bruises on their faces and all over their bodies. A 56-year-old female practitioner's face was all purple, and her eyes were red and swollen. Her head was also badly swollen. The guards used prisoners to punish the practitioners, and their methods were extremely vicious.

Another practitioner on a hunger strike often told the prisoners about Dafa. Because of this, the guard told her she talked too much and took off her dirty sock and stuffed it into the practitioner's mouth. Then she sealed the practitioner's mouth by wrapping tape around her neck. This made it very hard for her to breathe. At that moment, I saw menstrual blood and urine run down the board into her half-pulled down trousers. Cold wind blew on her bare genitals. There were male policemen and people working here and passing by constantly. At that moment, I thought, "This is a living hell. Even the concentration camp set up by Hitler could not compare to this."

When the vicious police asked me why I did not tell my name and address, I said that I am a practitioner. I was responsible for Dafa and my cultivation. Our teacher has said, "Real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos." [Speech by Master Li Hongzhi at the Western US Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference of Falun Dafa] Therefore I firmly reject all unrighteous elements by not cooperating with them. This is neither fear nor obviation. If I were afraid, I would not have come to Tiananmen Square to validate Dafa. The vicious policemen then handcuffed my two hands behind my back. They pulled up the handcuffs until they could not lift them any more and then threw them down. They did this again and again. The handcuffs cut into my flesh while they moved up and down. Other practitioners were treated with different tortures, such as electric shocks, or being doused with cold water while sitting barefoot in the snow in their underwear.

One practitioner was interrogated 7 or 8 times, as she did not tell her name and address. The first three times, her underwear was all wet and icy cold when she came back from the interrogation. Her hands and feet could not stop quivering. Once, she was forced to undress and sit outside in her bare feet with both hands cuffed to a chair. A snowball was placed between her legs and they poured cold water over her head. She was tortured this way for about 4 hours.

Another practitioner was forced to stand outside undressed. Police applied electric shocks to her chest, head, and face. This would knock her down, but she would always get back up again. This went on for three hours. When she finally came back to the cell, her face was swollen and deformed. Her heart may have been seriously damaged, for she could not go to sleep for the whole night. [According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, insomnia is often associated with heart problems/translator.]

The practitioners resisted the evil forces and validated Dafa in various ways, and were released within 20 days. However, some practitioners were secretly sent to labor camps.

When I and other practitioners were receiving all sorts of torture, I thought, "If I can only get out of here alive, I will definitely expose the monstrous crimes committed by the vicious police and guards." This is only a portion of what I experienced and what I saw with my own eyes. From the miserable cries I heard, who knows how many other practitioners were being brutally mistreated.

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