10,000 Petitioners Arrested in Beijing In Anticipation of May 1 Holidays

By Zhao Zifa and Ji Jian
The Epoch Times
May. 02, 2006

More than 10,000 petitioners were arrested in Beijing during the state "clean up" action between April 21 and May 1, 2006. In the days prior to May 1, the number of petitioners going into Beijing increased rapidly. Protests were common, and the Communist regime was quick break them up and arrest those involved. Each day since April 21, more than 1,000 petitioners were arrested and sent back to their home towns by the regime.

On April 26, the petitioners broke through security perimeter formed by police, and rushed to the Tiananmen Square Great Hall of the People. Click to download Epoch Times video footage:

[ Video 1 ]
[ Video 2 ]

The "clean up" before the May 1 holidays appeared to be well planned by the regime. From 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. on April 21, and from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on April 27, Beijing police removed groups of petitioners near the Supreme People's Court. They dismantled the temporary shelters that hundreds of long-term petitioners had erected, and threw all the wood planks and mattresses into garbage trucks. These people had been appealing in Beijing for a long time. Many of them had lost their homes and had no place to be sent back to, so the Beijing authorities could do nothing but disperse them repeatedly by dismantling their shelters.

As of April 20, large numbers of petitioners from outside the capital congregated in front of famous locations such as the United Nations Office of Human Rights in Beijing, Xunhua Gate, and Tiananmen Square, to protest.

Repeated Protests in Tiananmen

Every day, there were at least several hundred petitioners protesting on the Tiananmen Square. At times, the number would exceed 2,000. In the linked April 26 video footage of Tiananmen, around 100 petitioners who formed a long line dashed into the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. In spite of shouts to stop from the government police and the military police, they entered the building. Immediately afterwards eight police vehicles arrived on the scene and parked in front of the building, and the petitioners were arrested. Just before 8 a.m. on April 27 in a similar action, more than 100 petitioners were arrested while rushing to the front of the Great Hall of the People. Not long after the police arrested the first group, about 100 or more petitioners formed another group, shouted and dashed forward even before police vehicles full of the previously arrested petitioners left the scene.

Government police, military police, and plain clothes officers jumped over fences to apprehend the petitioners.

As the police were busy arresting the second group, another shouting group of 100-plus petitioners surged forward, and the police vehicles continued to shuttle back and forth arresting people.

In the commotion several reporters and bystanders were able to take pictures and video footage.

Some of the petitioners who were watching on the sidelines confirmed that these sorts of confrontations had happened repeatedly over recent days.

Petitioners Detained, Some Sent Home

At first the arrested petitioners from Tiananmen Square were imprisoned at Tiananmen Police Station. On April 27 alone, there were more than 2,000 petitioners imprisoned in the yard of the station. Because of such large numbers the police had to skip the usual methods of registration, and sent them to Ma Jia Lou—an institution that sends petitioner back to their places of origin.

Every day since April 21 there were more than 1,000 people from Fuyou Street, the Tiananmen Police Station, and other places transferred to Ma Jia Lou. The police sent away most of the petitioners to their original places of residence. A petitioner named Wu Xin from Liaoning Province was beaten by Beijing police and later taken to Yuting Hotel in Beijing by the police from his local area. Those police apparently came to Beijing for the sole purpose of forcing petitioners to return home.

During the 10 days before May 1, it is estimated that there were at least over 10,000 petitioners arrested by the regime. At present, in Beijing the number of petitioners from other towns have decreased dramatically.

"In the past, there were many people petitioning in front of the Supreme People's Court, but since most of them have been arrested the numbers are lesser now," said a petitioner.