That Unforgettable Day, April 25, 1999

(Minghui.org) On April 24, 1999, after we finished doing the Falun Dafa exercises in a small park in Beijing, the volunteer coordinator told us that police in Tianjin arrested dozens of practitioners. They said some practitioners planned to appeal. We had a discussion and decided to go to Zhongnanhai (the central government compound) the next day.

April 25 was a Sunday. When my wife and I arrived at Fuyou Street (where the Central Appeal Office is located) around 7 a.m., many police officers were already there. As more practitioners arrived, the police guided us to line up on the north side of Fuyou Street. We didn’t know what to do, so we just stood there quietly. Some read the Dafa books or did the exercises. The atmosphere was very calm and peaceful.

Later, the traffic became busier and there were more pedestrians. Some of them asked us why we were there, so we explained that we were appealing for Falun Dafa because some practitioners had been unlawfully arrested by police in Tianjin.

I noticed that the sidewalk wasn’t very clean with cigarette butts here and there thrown by the police, so I picked up the trash, put it into a plastic bag and took it to the trash bin.

Practitioners took turns taking a rest at the back. The young people stood in the front, and senior-aged practitioners, women, as well as children, sat at the back. While we were waiting, a few cars drove by very slowly, and people inside took videos of us. We had no fear, and kept taking turns standing in the front.

We heard practitioners clapping three times. The first time was when the then premier Zhu Rongji came out of Zhongnanhai and talked to practitioners. He said that since there were so many of us, we should choose a few representatives to talk with him inside. A few practitioners went inside with him and the rest of us kept waiting quietly outside along the street.

The second time I heard practitioners clapping was around 10 a.m., when some practitioners said they saw Falun in the sky. I heard that many non-practitioners also saw the fast rotating Falun in the sky that day.

That evening, we heard practitioners clapping again, and learned that the issue was resolved. The government agreed to release the practitioners in Tianjin, and allow us to practice Falun Dafa legally and peacefully. Since my wife had to work the night shift, we left early.

Although the communist regime still ordered the persecution three months later, the scenes from the appeal on April 25, 1999 remain vivid in my memory like it happened only yesterday. This experience is something I will never forget!