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Not So Funny Olympic Joke with Chinese Characteristics -- Large Number
of Beijing Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested Before Olympics/Epoch Times

Large Number of Beijing Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested Before Olympics
By Li Jia, Shi Yucia
Epoch Times Staff
Mar 04, 2008

http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2008-3-4-olympics79820946b.jpg
Chinese paramilitary policemen patrol near the Olympic countdown clock
showing less than 6 months to go for the up coming Beijing Olympic Games
at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on February 18, 2008. According to
sources, a large numbers of Beijing Falun Gong practitioners have been
arrested before the Olympics. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP/Getty Images)

According to sources from Beijing, from the end of 2007 to early this
year, at least 100 Falun Gong practitioners with confirmed names
(oftentimes practitioners do not reveal their true identity to protect
family, friends and colleagues) have been arrested in Beijing.

Some were immediately sentenced to eight months in prison. It is
believed to be a new round of suppression by the Chinese Communist Party
before the next session of the National Congress in March and the
Olympics in August 2008.

A Beijing Falun Gong practitioner, Li Qingyun (alias) said, in an
interview with The Epoch Times that, that since the end of 2007, he has
known of more than 10 Falun Gong practitioners being arrested.

According to data from the Falun Gong website Minghui.net, since the end
of last year, at least 100 Falun Gong practitioners have been secretly
arrested in Beijing. According to the latest news from Beijing, there
were over 40 arrests between Jan. 23 and 25.

Another Falun Gong practitioner in Beijing, a mechanical engineer named
Fang Ping (alias), said that among her friends, some were arrested at
checkpoints while driving out of town and being discovered that they
were Falun Gong practitioners; some were directly arrested from home and
carried away. There are police at bus stations, highway exits, and
various depots; they have blanketed the entire city of Beijing.

Li said that, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) suppression of Falun
Gong has never stopped. Using the excuse of the Olympics, they attempt
to make Falun Gong disappear. Therefore, the arrest of Falun Gong
practitioners is planned, systematic, and a progressive step by step action.

Li told the reporter that the arrests were on direct orders of the
Districts Party Commission of Beijing, organized by base level branch
offices, community centers, neighborhood committees, police stations,
and detention centers; some are responsible for monitoring and some are
responsible for arrests. They break into Falun Gong practitioners' homes
at will to take pictures of the contents of closets, boxes, drawers,
etc., and would make arrests whenever any Falun Gong materials are found.

During these large-scale arrests, the police have arrested Falun Gong
practitioners without giving any reasons, and sent them directly to
labor camps for eight months, just as the Olympic will be concluding.

And, they beat Falun Gong practitioners when they were just sent to the
labor camp regardless of whether the arrest is right or wrong. Some
labor camps sent the detained practitioners to camps outside Beijing,
which hints that those camps were already full.

Li said that, the arrested practitioners were sent to brainwashing
classes, labor camps and prisons. A special note is that in the labor
camps, people can be sent away or transferred with the signature of the
head of the camp alone. So-called appeals or administrative reviews
exist in name only.

Some Falun Gong practitioners' families went to the specified labor
camps, prisons, etc. to ask for the release of their family members, but
were told by authorities that they were only following orders from
higher up, or the lie "Falun Gong practitioners are against the
Olympics" was also used to legalize their crimes.

Fang told the reporter that, from February 22, Beijing had started a
39-day action period to clear out residents from outside of Beijing and
to centralize the control of temporary resident certificates. She said,
"I think this is aimed at Falun Gong practitioners."

Fang said, "They want to use this means to find those Falun Gong
practitioners that they were unable to find previously. To get a
temporary resident certificate, one must provide identification, so, it
enables them to check up on him at his registered permanent residence."

She said that, in addition to Falun Gong practitioners, migrant rural
workers, appellants and human rights advocators, were all considered bad
factors by the CCP, and the CCP was anxious to clear them from Beijing.
The intention was malicious.

She said, "When I told my relatives of my experience, they stared in
disbelief. They said that a highly educated person like myself suffered
such a predicament. The CCP is simply doomed. Actually, Beijing people
have been through so many hardships, they know."

Fang expressed his respect for the famous movie director Steven
Spielberg for resigning from Beijing Olympic artistic adviser position.
She said, "Spielberg's conscience must have caused him to make this
decision."

Finally, Li and Fang both expressed that they were thankful to have this
opportunity to be interviewed by an overseas media to spell out their
thoughts, not only about the Olympics but also about the illegal acts of
the authorities. They appealed to international community to stop the
CCP's atrocities.

Click here to read the original article in Chinese
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/2/29/n2027048.htm

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