On October 1, 2000 at 7:00am, armed policemen began to clear out Tiananmen Square. Several sanitation vehicles drove around to expel tourists. Many Falun Gong practitioners were not willing to leave, so the armed policemen started to arrest them, forcing them into buses. Some practitioners chanted: "Falun Dafa is good!" Several buses filled with practitioners roamed around the square giving the arrested practitioners in the buses more opportunities to speak to the tourists loudly: "Falun Dafa is good!"

Arrested Falun Gong practitioners were taken to the Eastern District Detention Center located in Xiaotangshan, Changping County. Policemen from various regions came to identify their local practitioners and then took them away. Those practitioners who refused to give their names were sent to other detention centers. Policemen asked several elderly practitioners whether they were ill. In response, these elderly practitioners mentioned the diseases they had suffered before they began practicing Falun Gong, and how they got rid of their diseases by practicing Falun Gong. Later, the police took them to their local police station. They were released after one night of detention.

One practitioner from Shandong Province walked for nine days before he arrived at Tiananmen Square. He did so after he read on Minghui net the article, "To Jiang Zemin: Stop The Reckless Behavior That Is Disgracing China."

Eyewitness Account #2:

On the early morning of October 1, 2000, I arrived at the Tiananmen Square that was crowded with tourists, plainclothes agents and uniformed police. The police searched tourists' bags in a very rude and offensive manner. I noticed that there were many Falun Gong practitioners from all over the country in the Square. Because another round of oppression had been launched nationwide prior to October 1, with numerous practitioners unlawfully arrested and detained, practitioners from all over the country had come to Beijing to appeal to the central government.

At about 8:30am, one of the first Falun Dafa banners was raised and many practitioners immediately stepped forward. The police rushed towards these goodhearted people who would never think of fighting back. Numerous blows and kicks fell on practitioners. "Police, stop beating," I shouted, and got punched immediately. "Falun Dafa is good!" I shouted loudly again. A policeman rushed at me and pulled my clothes and tore them apart. Another policeman punched a middle-aged woman in the face. She fell down with blood all over her face. Several policemen also beat a senior citizen until the blood covered his face. "Why do the police beat people so cruelly?" one tourist complained loudly.

After 7:00pm on October 1, many soldiers were sent silently from other places to the areas surrounding Tiananmen Square. In the woods along the History Museum and behind portable toilets and in other dark corners, numerous PLA (People's Liberation Army) soldiers lay hidden. They looked like newly recruited soldiers. Jiang Zemin appears to be plotting more serious crimes.

It was very cloudy on the morning of October 1, 2000, unlike the usual autumn day that should be clear. There was already a sea of people in the Square at 7:00am. Around 8:00am, I walked around the Monument to the National Flag and saw two policemen questioning several middle-aged women who were sitting on the ground. The police arrested two women whom they considered to be Falun Gong practitioners, although the women asked him: "What's wrong with our sitting here?"

Suddenly a commotion broke out as a dozen plainclothes policemen sprinted toward several Falun Gong practitioners who were raising a banner. Plainclothes agents, uniformed policemen, and thugs hired by the police fiercely beat these practitioners, who protected the banners with their bodies. Tourists came over to watch what was happening, and police vans also drove over. While driving the tourists back, the police pushed the practitioners into the vans. Falun Gong practitioners shouted: "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous!" A practitioner in a yellow t-shirt with the three characters, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," jumped out from the window of the police van. He shouted: "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa practitioners step forward!" As policemen and thugs ran after him, another dozen practitioners who were standing at the rear of the crowd answered his call by raising another banner. Angry policemen, who seemed to have lost their human nature, violently beat elderly citizens who were probably older than their parents and young men and women who were probably younger than their own brothers and sisters. The frightened tourists scattered all over the place. It was very chaotic.

Near the National Flag, more and more Falun Gong practitioners raised banners and distributed flyers. Uniformed and plainclothes policemen began to drive tourists off the square, leaving the middle of the square to Falun Gong practitioners holding banners and policemen waving their fists. Suddenly a tide of chanting that astonished the crowd spread over the throng from the east of the National Flag, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous!" Nearly one hundred Falun Gong practitioners rushed out from the expelled throng towards the center of the square. Numerous armed policemen were sent to the square, and a curfew was declared. Even so, Falun Gong practitioners continued to rush into the center of the square from all directions. The tourists who had been driven out clogged up the nearby underground passageway and all the other exits. This terrible spectacle was shot and videotaped by many, but the plainclothes policemen forced everyone to expose their films.

Buses, which had been prepared beforehand, were driven into the center of the square through the entrance on the east side of the Monument. A lot of people witnessed the brutal violence. Plainclothes agents and uniformed police pulled practitioners out of the crowd. Hired thugs fiercely pushed the crowd back, yelling: "Is there anything worth watching? Do you want to get on the bus, too?!..."

Many rows of armed policemen were sent into the center of Tiananmen Square, recklessly dealing with the non-violent Falun Gong practitioners. Buses filled with Falun Gong practitioners drove away from the square. Through the bus windows, some practitioners said loudly "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous!" Some practitioners pressed their hands together in front of their chests (a gesture in Buddha school) with smiles on their faces. A bunch of flyers were tossed out from the window of a bus. Banners reading "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and "Falun Dafa is Good" were raised outside of the bus windows. Policemen inside the bus crawled over the heads of practitioners trying to grab the banners but they couldn't get them. Policemen on the ground came to help, but also failed seize the banners because the practitioners held the banners tightly. Dozens of buses and police vehicles drove away from Tiananmen Square. This action of defending Falun Dafa in the human world lasted for more than an hour. History will remember this day.

At 9:20am the soldiers assembled in the square. They looked very tired and sweaty. The square was reopened. In some places, people were being driven out continuously. Occasionally several practitioners would chant: "Falun Dafa is good!" Then a police vehicle would rush over immediately... Standing on an iron container and waving their arms, two young practitioners shouted at the throng: "Falun Dafa is righteous! Falun Dafa is righteous!" Policemen who were still panting from exertion ran over in exasperation to arrest them while cursing at people.

It started to rain. I left in the afternoon while the police vehicles kept rushing from one corner to another in Tiananmen Square. At about 3:20pm the sun came out in the gloomy sky but the air in Beijing was still foul. On October 2 a big fog filled the whole city.

On October 1, Beijing was dark and cloudy. The crowd surged like a tide into Tiananmen Square. At about 8:00am, after the flag raising ceremony, Falun Gong practitioners started to protest peacefully. Protesting the brutal and inhumane crackdown on Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin and his accomplices, and requesting that Falun Gong practitioners be treated justly, practitioners raised banners on which were written "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," and "Falun Dafa is Good."

At once, the uniformed and plainclothes policemen brutally attacked practitioners. Like a pack of wolves surrounding their prey, the police maliciously beat and kicked these goodhearted and peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. One strong policeman held an old lady's ankles and dragged her from the entrance of an underground passageway to a police vehicle for a distance over 300 feet. The rough surface of the ground scraped the old lady's body badly. Many women, including one lady holding an infant, were dragged into police vehicles by hair. Each time, clumps of hair would be pulled out. In spite of this brutal oppression, more and more Falun Gong practitioners bravely stepped out from the crowd. The incident lasted for about an hour. Many onlookers felt outrageous about police's brutality.

Blood of goodhearted and innocent Falun Gong practitioners can be found on the wet Square. More than 1000 practitioners were arrested and they were sent to the front of a market beside Qianmen ('Front Gate'). Later they were transferred to unknown places. A curfew was called on the square for an hour and then the square was reopened after the banners, flyers, and blood had been cleaned up. However, after the square was reopened, Falun Gong practitioners continued to protest peacefully and the oppression resumed.

Tiananmen Square is the symbol of the People's Republic of China and is the Square of the people. But now it has been turned into a place where a few evil people brutally oppress goodhearted and peaceful practitioners. Because Jiang Zemin and his accomplices have deprived tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners of their legal rights and left them no place to appeal, practitioners have no choice but to go to Tiananmen Square. The high price paid by the practitioners for peacefully protesting in Tiananmen Square reveals to the people the crimes of Jiang Zemin and his accomplices and the ways in which these crimes are drawing the country into disgrace.

Under the Eastern Review Stand of the Tiananmen building was hidden the control center for the oppression. Rows of TV monitors could be seen through an occasionally opened door. The scenes of oppression kept changing on those monitors, while a dozen policemen gave orders. On the one side was a group of peaceful people who had worked hard all their lives to pay the taxes. On the other side was a group of oppressors who had been equipped with the most modern, high-tech equipment which were bought using taxpayers' money. Who is evil? And who is righteous?

On the early morning of October 1, 2000 there was a scattered shower. Tiananmen Square had been crowded with people since the previous evening. More and more tourists were now entering the Square. At about 8:30am, a group of Falun Gong practitioners from Shandong Province first raised a banner near the National Flag. Then more and more practitioners raised banners or started doing Falun Gong exercises. Uniformed and plainclothes policemen ran over as if faced with formidable enemies. Numerous armed policemen were dispatched into Tiananmen Square, and curfew was declared. Tourists were not allowed to enter the square, so that the armed police could deal with the peaceful and benign Falun Gong practitioners.

The tourists were driven to the side areas of the Square. In the middle of the Square was a large empty space where police parked vehicles and buses specifically for arresting Falun Gong practitioners. Inside the guard line stood more than twenty fierce-looking young men who were watching the crowd closely. Upon finding Falun Gong practitioners raising banners or doing Falun Gong exercises, they would immediately swarm upon them and beat and kick them, including senior citizens and children. After that they would return to their lines. A male practitioner was beaten unconscious. They dragged him, who was wearing only a thin short-sleeve shirt, by his arms for more than sixty feet on the ground into the bus. Another practitioner in a police uniform was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed in the meditation pose. Several ruffians rushed upon him, beating and kicking him. But this practitioner kept sitting with his legs crossed tightly.

Some people in the crowd reprimanded those ruffians angrily. But they shouted loudly: "Are you Falun Gong practitioners? If you are, get on the bus." They rushed into the crowd and dragged out those they thought were suspicious. Police also paid close attention to people who carried cameras and shouted: "No taking pictures!" Once they found somebody taking a picture, they exposed the film or even broke the camera. Under this tyranny, even foreign tourists had no choice but to open their cameras and remove the film.

Buses filled with practitioners were leaving Tiananmen Square. Practitioners in buses shouted: "Falun Dafa is good. Falun Dafa is righteous. The oppression of Falun Dafa is the most appalling injustice throughout the ages." I hope that the voices from these Falun Gong practitioners will wake up people's conscience. I hope that the ferocious conduct of Jiang Zemin and his accomplices has been made abundantly clear to the world.

Those Falun Gong practitioners were sent to the Changping Detention Center. Some of them were transferred to Shunyi county and other places.