In the afternoon on August 27, 2001, six Falun Gong practitioners who were on hunger strike in Washington D.C. drove to New York City to deliver a letter to UN secretary Kofi Annan. They held a press conference with local practitioners on August 28. Then they entered the UN building. A security guard told them to wait in the lobby and Annan's office would send a staff member to receive the letter. While they were waiting, several Chinese went down and talked to the security guard. The security guard asked the practitioners to wait outside the entrance and said Annan's office would send a staff member to the entrance to accept the letter. Practitioners co-operated and waited for about 20 minutes. A group of Chinese came again and made the security guard take the practitioners' letter, then they disappeared in the crowd with the security guard. When a female reporter from the Epoch Times took pictures of them, the three Chinese attempted to grab the reporter's camera and were stopped by policemen.