Starting at 8 a.m. on December 4, police started the mass arrest of protesters appealing in front of the China Central Television (CCTV) station who were gathered there on “Legal System Promotion Day”. Over one thousand protesters were arrested and detained in Majialou detention center. Some protestors from Liaoning Province were directly escorted to the Liaoning Province office in Beijing and were not allowed to return home on that day.
December 4 is proclaimed “Legal System Promotion Day” by the Chinese government. This year, over four thousand protesters gathered in front of the CCTV station to appeal for the “rule of law”. Immediately after the protest started, police rushed to the area and surrounded the protesters. Over one thousand people were arrested, denied food, and interrogated. The police made continuous attempts to identify the chief organizer. Following the mass arrests, many people accepted interviews or wrote articles to expose this act of Chinese police.
It seemed that this year the police had prepared ahead of time, unlike last year where they were late to react to a similar protest. The Epoch Times reporter noticed that at 8 a.m., dozens of police officers in uniforms and plain clothes had already gathered in front of the CCTV building. Over ten police vehicles were parked in the vicinity, and many police vehicles were driving back and forth. In the meantime, two teams of military police totaling around thirty to forty officers were lined up and entering the CCTV building.
