BEIJING—Petitioners continued visiting the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, where the Six-Party Talks are being held. On December 19 and 20, under close surveillance of 30 police vehicles and over 100 police officers, more than 100 petitioners were arrested each of those days and taken away from the main entrance of Diaoyutai.
On December 19, police vehicles parked on the left side of Diaoyutai’s main entrance, marking off the area with yellow tape. A number of armed police officers posted as guards at the door. Whenever a large number of petitioners assembled, dozens of police officers in uniform and in plain clothes would quickly rush over to intercept them. Press-photographers wearing clothes marked with “CCTV” were waiting on the right side of the main entrance. They witnessed the many petitioners getting arrested.
A police officer at the scene tried to persuade the petitioners: “A foreign affairs activity is being held here, they are trying to resolve the nuclear weapon issue with North Korea. The ‘Two Meetings’ [1] are not being held here, no national leaders are here. You should not come here otherwise our country will lose face.”
