Daqing City: Heilongjiang Province: 14 Falun Gong Practitioners, Including a 98-year-old Woman, Arrested in One Day

(Minghui.org) Fourteen Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province residents, including a 98-year-old woman, were arrested on July 12, 2022 for their faith in Falun Gong. 

Between July 11 and 12, another 20 practitioners in four more cities across Heilongjiang Province were also arrested, per an order from the Heilongjiang 610 Office, an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong. 

According to the officers who participated in the arrests, they received a name list from the provincial level officials. The authorities had monitored and videotaped the practitioners for nine months. They further enhanced the monitoring of the practitioners’ daily activities one week before the arrests. The practitioners in Daqing were accused of having a gathering every Wednesday and distributing Falun Gong materials together.

Below are the details of some arrests in Daqing.

Ms. Yang Guilan, a 75-year-old retired employee of an electric pump company, was arrested at home at around 5:30 a.m. The police claimed that they were taking her to the police station to ask her several questions about her earlier arrest in 2018 for talking to people about Falun Gong. They took away a photo of Falun Gong’s founder from her and threatened to withhold the photo if she didn’t go with them. Ms. Yang was released at around 4:30 p.m. She didn’t answer any of the police’s questions.

Also before 6 a.m., the police deceived Mr. Gao Xijiang into going downstairs with the excuse that they scratched his car. When he came out, the police arrested him and ordered a locksmith to try to break into his home, after his wife, Ms. Wei Jun, refused to open the door for them. Despite the fact that the police broke the lock and sawed off the metal railing outside of their window, they still couldn’t get in after two hours. Mr. Gao was released on bail at around 4 p.m.

Another practitioner, Ms. Chen Jingjie, who lives in the same neighborhood and was arrested around the same time, was also released on bail in the afternoon. Her Falun Gong books and electric book reader were confiscated.

Mr. Yan Shaoyi was arrested outside of his apartment building while on his way to work. His home was ransacked. 

Ms. Zou Fengchun and Ms. Chen Yazhi were arrested at around 7 a.m. Ms. Zou’s home was ransacked. 

Ms. Li, a 98-year-old female practitioner, was arrested at around 10 a.m. Her home was also raided. 

At around 2 p.m., ten officers broke into Ms. Xu’s home and ransacked her place. Her two guests were arrested as well.

Mr. Xu Pujun (no relation to above-mentioned Ms. Xu) was arrested at work between 6:30 and 6:40 p.m. His laptop was confiscated. The police attempted to trick his wife, Ms. Yin Fengzhi, to the police station, but she didn’t comply. Mr. Xu has been released on bail.

Around the same time, Ms. Pang Zhonghua and Ms. Zhu Jianli were arrested at home. Both of their Falun Gong books were confiscated. Ms. Pang has been released.

Other practitioners who were arrested in Daqing include Li Xinlin (gender unknown), Mr. Xie Zhengyong and his wife Ms. Xie Shuzhen.

In addition to the arrests, six other practitioners were harassed on the same day.

A female residential committee staff member knocked on Ms. Wu Shunzi’s home. The 83-year-old woman living on her own opened the door. As soon as she saw police officers outside, she shut the door. The police attempted to break in by hiring a locksmith, but didn’t succeed. Ms. Wu questioned them, “What kind of ‘People’s police’ are you?” The police didn’t respond.

Ms. Zhu Jianyun also refused to open the door for the police. They threatened to break in, but then relented.

The shared residence between Ms. Zhao Xiuping and her parents was ransacked and her Falun Gong books were taken away. Ms. Zhao escaped the arrest as she wasn’t home. The police came back in the afternoon and forced her brother to sign her bail release document.

Three other practitioners, including Lu Shouhe, Zhang and Guo were harassed over the phone.