Chinese Regime Raids Homes, Detains Falun Gong Practitioners Ahead of Centenary

Police detain a Falun Gong protester in Tiananmen Square as a crowd watches in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2000. Chien-min Chung/AP Photo

The Chinese regime has been raiding the homes of Falun Gong practitioners and detaining them throughout the country during the month of June, ahead of the ruling party’s upcoming 100-year anniversary celebration on July 1.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will celebrate the centennial of its founding next month. In order to “maintain social stability”—terminology used by the regime to justify its totalitarian rule—the CCP announced a series of strict controls on the Chinese people in June, particularly in Beijing.

Practitioners of Falun Gong—a traditional spiritual practice that teaches the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—have been among those targeted by the regime.

Since June 1, reports have emerged of practitioners’ homes being raided by local police. Their private property has been seized, and some police have even detained nonpractitioner family members.

“We condemn all forms of the CCP’s persecution [on Falun Gong practitioners],” Zhang Erping, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York, told The Epoch Times on June 17.

“The CCP’s persecution has been ongoing since July 1999. There is no indication thus far of any policy change from the CCP, and we continue to witness the ruthless campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. We continue to call on people of good conscience around the world to speak up against the CCP’s violence on Falun Gong.”

Practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong hold a parade in New York on May 13, 2020, to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day and to protest the ongoing persecution of the group by the Chinese Communist Party in China. Larry Dai/The Epoch Times

Large-Scale Detentions

On June 10, the Mudanjiang Municipal Police Department in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang Province ordered police from across the city’s six counties and four districts to arrest Falun Gong practitioners from their homes.

The regime said the arrests were part of a campaign it has named “Safety July 1.”

In a 36-hour period, police detained 28 Falun Gong practitioners in the city; harassed another six practitioners; and seized cellphones, computers, printers, books, cash, and even bank cards from practitioners’ homes, reported Minghui.org, a website dedicated to documenting the persecution in China.

On June 10, at 3 a.m., several policemen broke into Falun Gong practitioner Guo Libin’s house in Hailin, a county-level city in Mudanjiang, detained Guo and his wife, and grabbed Guo’s son’s bank card. They also raided his sister’s house, seizing her home entertainment system, cellphones, and books.

At 8 a.m., policemen from Aimin district hired a locksmith and broke into the house of practitioner Chen Yanwei when Chen and her family were at home. They detained Chen and her sister Chen Yanfu.

In some cases, the police even used pepper spray on practitioners as they tried to protect their belongings.

Practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong hold a parade in New York to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day, and to protest the ongoing persecution of the group by the Chinese Communist Party in China, on May 13, 2020. Larry Dai/The Epoch Times

In Dalian city of northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, 29 Falun Gong practitioners and at least six of their nonpractitioner family members were arrested from their homes between June 1 and June 3 as part of the regime’s “Safety July 1” campaign. Police in eastern China’s Shandong Province conducted their own home raids on Falun Gong practitioners as part of the campaign.

Minghui.org also reported on similar arrests happening in the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as in Sichuan, Guangdong, Gansu, Hebei, Yunnan, and about a dozen other provinces.

Fear of Losing Power

The Chinese regime launched its brutal persecution to eradicate Falun Gong in July 1999, and it’s estimated that millions of practitioners have been detained, tortured, and killed over the past 22 years.

A painting depicting the “hanging bricks around the neck” torture method. It's one of the most common torture methods used to break the spirit of determined Falun Gong practitioners and coerce them to renounce their faith. FalunArt.org

Regime officials believe they need to escalate the persecution during the centennial to safeguard their power, according to Tang Jingyuan, U.S.-based China affairs commentator.

“The CCP regime has detained Falun Gong practitioners, petitioners, democracy activists, and even ultra-leftists who they don’t trust ahead of the centenary,” he told The Epoch Times on June 17. “It’s because Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the Beijing authorities are scared to lose power.”

Tang said the regime wants to consolidate its dictatorship, and Xi eagerly wishes to hold onto his totalitarian position.

“In the past decades, Falun Gong practitioners have revealed the persecutions that they suffered in China, and exposed the crimes the CCP committed when faced with calls to end the persecution, inside and outside of China. This scares the CCP,” Tang said.

“The CCP wants to silence Falun Gong practitioners by escalating the persecution and detaining as many practitioners as possible. But history has told the CCP that people who have beliefs, such as Falun Gong practitioners, are not afraid of evil. They'll do whatever they believe is good for others and the society.”