(Minghui.org) I went to Beijing on October 28, 1999, to appeal for the right to practice Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). As soon as I arrived in Beijing someone asked me, “Are you a Falun Gong practitioner?” I was then taken to a police station.
There were many Dafa practitioners detained there, and some were from my hometown. We were interrogated one by one.
Interrogated by Police
While we were waiting to be interrogated by the police, we practitioners discussed among ourselves, and decided to not tell the police our names or addresses, and to only say, “I am a Falun Gong practitioner.”
One practitioner came back from being interrogated with bruises on his eyes and face. We asked him why he was beaten, but he didn't say a word.
I was interrogated by a police officer in his early twenties. On the second day of interrogation he asked me, “Are you from Changchun? If you are, we will let you go back home. The mayor of Changchun is asking the central government to let those from Changchun go back home. Too many people from Changchun came to Beijing, and the factories there have stopped operating.”
He continued, “If you don’t tell us your name and where you are from, we will load you onto a train and send you to the great northern wilderness. We have already sent out a few trainloads of people.” I repeated to the guard, “I am a Falun Gong practitioner.”
He seemed to have sympathy for practitioners, and asked, “Are you hungry? Do you have money? There is a small shop across the street. I can take you there to buy some food, but don’t try to escape. Don’t get me in trouble.”
I assured him that I would not get him in to trouble. He also asked me to buy food for other practitioners.
I was later taken to a detention center, and put in a cell with several criminal inmates and Falun Gong practitioners. All of the practitioners in the cell were from Beijing, and some had already been there for more than two months.
One practitioner in the cell told me, “You will get out of here soon. All practitioners from other cities have already been released. But no one knows where they were taken.”
No Space For Us in Beijing
The practitioners were constantly interrogated in the detention center, and we were all asked for our names and addresses. During my last interrogation when a guard was talking to me, I suddenly recalled two things that I did before leaving for Beijing.
First, I quit my job and submitted a report on how to contact each of the customers I was taking care of. I did not want to leave without telling my bosses important information and cause any loss to my employer because of my departure.
When the persecution started, I started telling them that I was practicing Falun Gong, and that the slanderous TV broadcasts about Falun Gong were all lies. My colleagues' trust in me and their positive attitude towards Falun Gong strengthened my confidence to go to Beijing to appeal for Dafa.
I also said goodbye to my family and asked them to protect my Dafa books well. They assured me that they would!
The scene played out in my mind for a few seconds before I decided to tell the police my name and address. One police officer said, “It doesn't matter whether you tell us your name and address, you will all be taken out of Beijing. We have no space to hold you all.”
A Practitioner's Ordeal in Beijing
I was returned to my hometown by our local police, and was detained with many other practitioners who had traveled to Beijing. One practitioner described in detail her ordeal in Beijing.
“I saw buses fully loaded with people leaving Tiananmen Square,” she said. “After I walked a few steps into the square, I was also pushed onto a bus. The bus then drove to the Asian Games Village. Before I was able to step off the bus, someone outside said, ‘The place is already full.’ The bus then turned around and drove off to Fengtai Stadium. It was almost full there, too, and many people were sitting on the ground, packed in, row by row.”
She said, “The practitioners were made to sit with their legs apart and hands on their knees. The body of the one in the front must be in close contact with the body of the person behind. If they were not close enough, the police would stomp on their back. It didn't matter whether the practitioner was male or female, young or old.”
She continued, “When some practitioners wanted to use the restroom, the police would say, ‘Your Master asked you to act according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance - hold it.’ Many people couldn’t hold it. When the elderly and children were hungry, the police said a similar thing, ‘Put up with it. Whoever tells us their name and address can leave.’”
“At the stadium entrance there were many police officers from different areas, waiting to take the practitioners back to their hometowns. If one did not tell his or her name and address, they would not be allowed to leave.”
Large Number of Detained Practitioners Disappear
Around October 28, 1999, a large number of Dafa practitioners in China went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Since they refused to tell their names and addresses, they were loaded onto buses and trains, and taken to places that no one knew about.
Where are those detained practitioners? Where were they taken after being loaded onto the trains and buses? What are their situations now?
We must not forget them!
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