Beijing: On the morning of October 30, 300 people broke through two security lines and dashed toward the central flagpole on Tiananmen Square. Some of those who made it there successfully, began yelling, “Innocent!” and “Injustice!” before they were dragged away by a combination of uniformed and plain clothes police. Those detained were quickly rounded up and whisked away from the scene in police vans.
These visitors, who come from every region of the country to Beijing, are appealing to state authorities for help, due to wrong treatment or false charges by their local government. In reality, however, they have not obtained any resolutions or fair treatment here as they hoped for. On the contrary, they have received illegal detention, arrest, even persecution. It is apparent that citizens are not allowed to complain or to expose illegal operations by whatever means necessary. Facing life or death situations, these appealers have been driven to take drastic actions in an attempt to raise awareness on human rights issues locally and internationally.
Epoch Times reporters interviewed some of the appellants at the scene.
One appealer who took part in the event gave his account: “We were a group of around 300 people who came to Tiananmen Square together. There was a female appealer from our group who ran the fastest to the flagpole. She held the pole and shouted, ‘Injustice!’ Then many police descended from all directions and began to savagely beat us. People like us are no longer afraid of death. I heard there was a woman from Shanxi Province named Yang Jin. She tried to stop an official by kneeling down in front of his motorcade. It caused many to slam on their breaks, almost running her over. She wanted to die. Now we don't know her whereabouts.”
This same appealer recounted the following story: “On the 26th of October, at 10 a.m., 100 of us tried to reach the American Embassy to make an appeal. But we were met by a force of 70 policemen who pushed us back and separated us. At 1 p.m. that same afternoon, 26 of us gave it a second try. This time there were many police cars awaiting our arrival. The police took our photos in front of the embassy and took us back to the police station. We were detained for 29 hours without food or water or a place to sleep. Among us, there were two people over 80 years old. Six people in our group were children, ranging in age from three to 10 years old. There were five women and one handicapped person. We became so hungry during our detention that at one point we tried to push our way through the locked door. We yelled, ”We want out! We are hungry! Children and old people want to eat, we want to eat too! We are appealers, not criminals!
In response, the head of police, a Mr. Wang, and six other officers came into our cell and began dishing out harsh beatings. One appealer from Jilin Province, after he was beaten by the police, took hold of his three-year-old daughter and attempted to kill himself by slamming his head into the wall. We stopped him, but one of the police said, “If you want to die, go ahead and hit the wall!” One handicapped woman was pushed from her wheel chair and left to lay, helpless on the floor of the cell. These police were worse than any criminals.
He told of another incident that occurred on October 9: “There were over a thousand appealers arrested and carted away in 30 police cars. Most of those arrested received severe beatings. There was a handicap person from Mongolia who tried to fight back. He was severely beaten for his efforts and almost died. We were placed in a cell for a number of days without care. Some of us became very ill. There were more than 20 children arrested in our group.”
Why did this man and his compatriots come to appeal? He explains: “We are barely able to survive now. Our lives are constantly threatened. I was from Xinjiang Province (3000 miles from Beijing). I begged my way all the way to Beijing so that I could appeal to the government. I pick up trash for a living. The CCP (the Chinese Communist Party) has taken everything away from me. More than one million dollars gone… Now everyone is withdrawing from the CCP. I have done so, too. I hope the CCP will collapse soon. Someday, they will all be punished. I don't care if I ever get my money back. That is no longer an issue. I just long to see the collapse of the CCP - that day when less people will be forced to suffer.”
