On July 20, 1999 when I heard that many assistants had been arrested, I consulted with some fellow Falun Dafa practitioners in a hurry at 4:00 PM. We thought that we should go to Beijing to explain the truth of Falun Gong as the best way to be responsible to the nation and to the people. When we arrived at the train station, we found that the plaza was full of police cars and the two lines of police standing at the entrance were questioning the passengers going to Beijing. There was a sign hung in front of the ticket counter that said, "The railroad to Beijing is under repair and temporally closed." We bought the tickets to Gao-bei-dian. From there, we transferred to another train and finally arrived in the Beijing West Station.
The station attendants had been replaced by police, and they were carefully checking every passenger. If there were over three people in a group, they would be detained right away. Many Falun Dafa practitioners were detained and forced back to their hometown upon arriving. Among the five of us going to Beijing together, I was the only one who got out of the Station successfully. After going out of the Station, I met several practitioners coming from other cities. We went to Zhongnanhai (the compound of China's Central Government) by bus. We found that many police cars were distributed at both ends of Fuyou Street. We met other practitioners from different cities and discussed what we should do. The police kept approaching us for identification. After seeing that we were not from the same place, they let us go. After a while, a Beijing practitioner came and told us about practitioners going to Xishiku (one of the places around Zhongnanhai) to safeguard the Fa. We then passed this information to the practitioners from many cities. From Xidang (the major marketplace in Beijing) to Zhongnanhai, the police were everywhere. They set many checkpoints on the street. Many practitioners were hauled away by police cars on their way to Xishiku. We tried four passages and still didn't get through. We then asked an old Beijing resident for a possible alleyway leading to Xishiku. He showed us the direction. In several minutes, thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners gathered at Xishiku.
Many many practitioners were around Xishiku. At 10:00AM, the practitioners recited "Lunyu" (the preface in the book "Zhuan Falun" and "Hongyin" (the poems) together. There were several policemen on the spot. After a while, they went away. At 10:30 AM, over 100 trucks fully loaded with soldiers, policemen, military police and anti-violence policemen drove from the east to the west and to the north. The trucks lined up single-file from south to north. The sound of horns and communicators echoed. At 10:50 AM, more than 100 policemen announced that the martial law was now being enforced and no vehicles were allowed to pass. The shops on both sides of the street closed their doors in a hurry. More than 10,000 soldiers tightly surrounded Xishiku. One soldier faced each Falun Dafa practitioner. We recited "Hongyin", which resounded through the skies. The soldiers in front of us trembled.
At 11:10AM, upon seeing that the soldiers were trembling, the commander substituted them with policemen.
At 11:15AM, upon receiving the order to suppress the practitioners, they began to execute it.
The police surrounded us layer by layer and forcefully broke us up. Three to five policemen together hauled each practitioner and forcefully put him or her onto a bus. We held each other hand-by-hand. Some practitioners were beaten badly on the head, face and leg. One Beijing practitioner was beaten into unconsciousness and then was lifted into the bus. I was hauled 6 meters away and then loaded onto a bus. The belongings of the practitioners such as clothes and bags were scattered all over Xishiku. More than 100 buses took us to Fengtai Stadium. We recited "Lunyu" together on the bus all the way to the Stadium. Some pedestrians understood what we recited, they turned up the thumbs and said: "Falun Gong is good". Some nodded with a smile.
At 1:00 PM, we were driven to the Stadium. It was 102 degree F (39 C), and the temperature in the bus was 108 degree F (42 C). The police didn't allow us to use the restroom. There was also a female practitioner with her months old baby on our bus. At 2:00 PM, the Stadium was full of people, tens of thousands of people. At 2:30 PM, the Stadium p.a. system broadcasted, "Attention please, the practitioners should not smoke in the Stadium." We smiled to each other, we had already picked up all the cigarette tips left behind by the policemen and the soldiers, and put them in the trash bins. It seemed that we didn't spread the Fa well enough.
At 3:00 PM, we started to read the Fa together. Some practitioners practiced and some talked to the policemen about Falun Dafa.
At 4:00PM, the vehicles of many provinces came to pick up the practitioners, but the practitioners didn't want to leave and asked the government to release the arrested practitioners. The policemen hauled people into the vehicles. Some practitioners were caught by head and feet, lifted up and sent into vehicles by several policemen. Some practitioners' face and eyes were beaten until swollen. We encouraged each other and our hearts were not moved. Three policemen clipped a Beijing practitioner's neck, held his hands and hauled him 200 meters away. He still did not get on the vehicle. Despite the grasping, beating and cursing, we always smiled. During the arrest, a young soldier was crushed to the ground by other soldiers and was stepped on. A Beijing practitioner and I happened to see this. Disregarding our own safety and bearing the impact from the policemen, we pulled him out from under the others' feet, patted off the dust on his uniform, and put his hat on.
At 5:00PM, it suddenly started to rain. The military policemen were taking a break here in the Stadium. The practitioners passed their own umbrellas and raincoats to the military policemen. The practitioners were all wet. A commander sending raincoats to his soldiers saw this scene. He was moved to tears. At 6:00PM, I heard his superior officer's instruction from his communicator that if the practitioners didn't leave, he was to use a high-pressure water gun to spray them. This commander said that it was not necessary, as they didn't even hit back when being hit.
When the police drove the vehicles loaded with the practitioners out of the Stadium, some practitioners did the sitting meditation in front of the vehicles to stop them from taking away the good people. There was an 80-year-old practitioner doing the sitting meditation. Five policemen could not lift him. It was dark. The police lifted the rest of us onto the vehicles, and at 11:00PM we were sent to a farm run by the military police. The police said we would be sent back home. Then, several Beijing practitioners and I got off the vehicle next to the West Train Station right at 2:00AM on the second morning. I took a short break in the Station and then went to the Tiananmen Square. After going back home, I was wanted by my local police. I was put in jail in September 1999 and released in March 2000.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
