BANGKOK—Three men, two women, and three of their children aged 5, 6 and 14—all Chinese refugees with United Nations refugee protection documents—were detained today while meditating across from the Chinese embassy in Bangkok. The adults were formally charged. Apart from a 14-year-old girl who was released, they are currently being held at the Bangkok immigration detention center.
Wikorn Jarupruch, a Thai immigration investigator who interviewed the practitioners in detention, told practitioners that it was the Chinese embassy that directed the police to stop the protests.
The eight were among more than a dozen Falun Gong practitioners who had returned this morning to the sidewalk opposite the Chinese embassy. They have been protesting there daily since December 6, highlighting a Chinese policeman’s double rape of female Falun Gong practitioners, and the six-year persecution of Falun Gong in general.
Over the last few days, Thai police have been searching practitioners and removing their banners. In one incident, Thai policemen were seen going in and out of the Chinese embassy before crossing the street to stop the practitioners’ quiet protest.
On December 14 practitioners met with Thai police. For three hours they discussed why exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in China and the other abhorrent crimes of the Chinese Communist Party was so important to them. The officials appeared to understand and sympathized with the victims of such injustice.
