(Minghui.org) Three Dingzhou City, Hebei Province residents have been detained for nearly three weeks for their faith in Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Xu Zhimin, Ms. Lu Huipin and Ms. Li Lanxin went out on February 2, 2020 to distribute informational materials about Falun Gong. A woman refused to accept the materials and shouted on the street, “Here are some Falun Gong!”

A group of urban management officials surrounded the practitioners and called the police, who soon showed up and took the practitioners to the Dongting Town Police Station.

The police went to Ms. Lu’s home, but no one was around. They tore down the decorative couplet on her door with information about Falun Gong and then went to Ms. Li’s place. They also tore down Ms. Li’s New Year decoration from the door and demanded to take a look inside. Ms. Li’s daughter strongly objected and insisted that she wouldn’t allow strangers to come into her home due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The group of officers last went to Mr. Xu’s home. His wife opened the door for them. They tore down the couplet from their door and took pictures inside the home. A photo of the founder of Falun Gong was confiscated.

The police brought the practitioners to a hospital for a physical checkup in the afternoon. The Dingzhou City Detention Center refused to accept them, after having rejected admission of several other practitioners in the past few days. The police released the practitioners around 8 p.m.

On February 7, the three practitioners were summoned to the police station. The police attempted to ransack their homes again, but didn’t succeed. The practitioners were admitted to Chengbei Detention Center in Dingzhou City later in the day. Further details about their situation remain to be investigated.