[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1335-E1336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 48 HOURS IN A CHINESE DETENTION CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 23, 2002

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, today I met with Daniel Pomerleau a 
student from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Last March, 
Mr. Pomerleau traveled to China to meet with fellow practitioners of 
Falun Dafa and to learn more about the Chinese government's persecution 
of its people. As a result of his interaction with Chinese citizens, 
Mr. Pomerleau was held in a Chinese Detention Center for nearly 48 
hours.
  Mr. Pomerleau gave me a copy of Clark University's WheatBread 
Magazine. The magazine has a detailed description written by Mr. 
Pomerleau of his experiences in China. I ask unanimous consent to have 
Mr. Pomerleau's article inserted in the Congressional Record.
  Mr. Speaker, I am certain that the U.S. House of Representatives join 
me in thanking Mr. Pomerleau for bringing his story to our attention.

                 48 Hours in a Chinese Detention Center

                         (By Daniel Pomerleau)

       Three weeks ago, my older brother and I were detained in 
     China for talking to people about Falun Dafa. I would like to 
     share with you my experience in the article below. But before 
     I do, I would like to briefly explain our reasons for going, 
     as well as the current situation in the persecution in China.
       We departed from Logan airport on Sunday morning, March 24. 
     We split up in Vancouver, Canada, both of us heading in 
     different directions; my older brother Jason to Hong Kong and 
     myself to Beijing. We planned to meet in Beijing a few days 
     later and travel by train through the Northeast of China.
       We were traveling to China for similar reasons. We both 
     wanted to expose the persecution of Falun Dafa to the Chinese 
     people and share with them our personal experiences with the 
     practice. We have experienced many first-hand benefits from 
     practicing Falun Dafa and its principles of truthfulness, 
     compassion, and forbearance. We couldn't understand how 
     people could be tortured and killed for doing something as 
     harmless as meditating and trying to be good people. Good 
     people should not be treated like criminals.
       While watching the persecution grind on for the past two 
     and half years, we have been horrified by the accounts of 
     harassment, extortion, torture, rape, and killing of Falun 
     Dafa practitioners in Chinese prisons and labor camps every 
     day. Over 150,000 people have been detained and physically 
     abused, and nearly 400 have been tortured to death. 
     Groundless propaganda is spewed out day after day by the 
     Chinese President through all media outlets to vilify the 
     practice and keep the death cases silent. As a result, the 
     average Chinese person knows nothing about the deaths, and 
     even less about the thousands of honors and proclamations 
     bestowed on Falun Dafa outside of China. Because all the 
     books about the practice are outlawed, they only know what's 
     aired in the media. It's really sad. They are the biggest 
     victims.
       The Chinese president, the man responsible for this 
     persecution, claims that Falun Dafa is detrimental to China's 
     social stability and must be crushed at all costs. Why then 
     is it proven to be so beneficial to the social stability of 
     over 50 countries, where it has been practiced freely and 
     peacefully for the past seven years? Why does the Chinese 
     government say bad things about it while the other 50 
     countries and their people, with various types of cultures, 
     religions, and governments, support it? What is the real 
     motive behind this persecution? Is what the Chinese people 
     hear everyday true?
       My brother and I went to China simply to ask the Chinese 
     people to think about these questions. We had no intentions 
     of holding a protest or getting arrested, and we have no 
     interest in political matters or attacking the Chinese 
     government. We also weren't planning on creating a media 
     hype. I was set on quietly returning home after a week or so 
     of travel, and most of you would never have known I had gone 
     if I hadn't been arrested. I felt that if I could talk to 
     just one person and clarify the truth to them so that this 
     person knew the truth about this persecution and no longer 
     wanted to go along wit it, I would have accomplished what I 
     had set out to do.
       Unfortunately, however, I didn't make it very far.
       I arrived at the Beijing International Airport at 
     approximately 4:00 pm on March 25, and headed to a nearby 
     subway station. I got off at a busy Beijing street with 
     people on Bicycles bustling about. Remembering my purpose of 
     coming to China, I took the opportunity to begin talking to a 
     few people and hand them small pieces of information. 
     Everyone I handed it to looked at it, read a few words, and 
     exclaimed ``Oh, Falun Dafa! Thank you!'' They seemed very 
     happy to be receiving such information from a westerner.
       After talking briefly with about five people, a big ruffian 
     approached me from behind, grabbed my arm and pulled me to 
     the side of the street. I was immediately surrounded by 
     several other men and couldn't move. The men had red bandanas 
     tied around their arms and didn't identify who they were. One 
     of them had the information I had handed out in his hand, so 
     I knew who they were and what they were up to. They were 
     thugs hired by the Chinese government to specifically arrest 
     Falun Dafa practitioners. Most likely, they got an award for 
     each new person they arrested. At that point, having read 
     countless stories of the beatings and tortures that have 
     occurred, I knew what I could be about to face. It was pretty 
     scary.
       When I tried to leave and continue on my way, they grabbed 
     my luggage and didn't allow me to move. They seemed very 
     nervous and didn't want the Chinese people on the street to 
     know what was going on. Soon a police van came and about 
     seven uniformed police began forcing me towards the van. At 
     this point, I knew it was probably my last chance to do what 
     I had come to China to do, so I called out as loud as I could 
     to the huge crowd that had gathered around me ``Falun Dafa 
     Hao!'' (Falun Dafa is Good). They looked stunned.
       This was my first encounter with the viciousness of this 
     persecution; for, as soon as I said those words, the police 
     began slapping me in the face and kicking me in the legs to 
     keep me quite. ``Falun Dafa is Good'' is the last thing they 
     wanted the Chinese people to hear. As I continued to call it 
     out to the crowd, I was picked up and thrown into the police 
     van. The visors were closed and they continued to kick me to 
     keep me silent.
       I was taken to a nearby police substation, where I 
     immediately asked to call the U.S. Embassy. They denied the 
     request and instead took away my passport, airplane tickets, 
     and wallet. Upon finding Falun Dafa information in my bag, 
     they said I had broken the law and must be punished. I told 
     them that they were the ones breaking the law. Their own 
     constitution guarantees the right

[[Page E1336]]

     to freedom of speech and belief, and the Chinese president 
     was breaking the International Covenant of Human Rights by 
     torturing and killing innocent people. They said that it 
     didn't matter because I was in China and had to do what they 
     said. I didn't agree. They began asking me many questions and 
     kicked, slapped, and shoved me when I refused to answer. 
     After about one and a half hours of interrogation, I was 
     taken to a hidden detention center located in a parking 
     garage.
       The detention center had two cells in it. I was put into a 
     cell by myself and my luggage was kept away from me. The cell 
     was very dirty and the bed was covered in stains. Most of the 
     policemen watching me were very young and had no interest in 
     arresting me. They were just doing their jobs. I felt very 
     sorry for them because of this. Upon reading the information 
     about Falun Dafa that I had brought with me, they seemed 
     shocked to see the pictures and read the information about 
     the people who have been killed.
       I was locked in the cell by myself for the next 45 hours 
     until about 4:00 p.m., Wednesday the 27th. On different 
     occasions, the guards tried to get me to answer several 
     questions as to where I was from, who I traveled to China 
     with, where I got the information I had brought with me, and 
     if I had been in contact with anyone in China. I refused to 
     answer any questions I thought could be used to distort the 
     truth or used to hurt other people. They also tried to get me 
     to sign a form several times, but I refused. On two 
     occasions, the guards were very violent.
       One of these times was in the afternoon on Tuesday the 
     26th. After being escorted to and from the bathroom, I asked 
     them if I could do my homework (which I had brought with me 
     from school). At this point, one of the guards became very 
     angry and pushed me back into the cell. He punched me in the 
     mouth and stomach, and kicked me down to the bed. I had a 
     bloody lip for about 20 minutes.
       The other time was in the morning on Wednesday, the 27th. 
     When the guards were still asleep, I used a coin to write 
     Chinese characters on the wall. The characters read `Falun 
     Dafa is good', `truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance is 
     good', and `Falun Dafa is a righteous practice.' I signed it 
     `an American college student, March 27th.' I wrote the words 
     because I felt it was the only way left I had to let the 
     people who came into the detention center know why I was 
     there. Upon waking up, the guards were stunned, and stared at 
     the writing over and over again. Two hours later, they came 
     into the cell and washed the words away, demanding that I 
     leave the cell with them so they could take my photo and 
     thumbprints. I refused. Again, I told them I was not a 
     criminal and had done nothing wrong. I shouldn't be here, and 
     they should be out on the street arresting people who commit 
     real crimes and rob people. Two of them dragged me out at 
     that point and began punching me in the head and kicking me 
     in the torso. In the end, they were unsuccessful at taking my 
     thumbprints or photo. Later in the day, one of the mean-
     spirited guards spit in my face after I told him he shouldn't 
     persecute good people.
       It was 24 hours before they asked me if I wanted any food 
     or water. At this point, I went on a hunger strike for the 
     remaining 24 hours of my stay. I told them that my detention 
     was illegal and I would not eat or drink until I was 
     released. I practiced the Falun Dafa exercises frequently to 
     keep my energy up and the guards got very quiet and looked on 
     intently as I went through the slow motion movements. 
     Probably most of them were very intrigued to watch a 
     westerner perform the exercises. There were always at least 
     two guards on duty at all times, but there were frequently up 
     to five or six at various times.
       During the whole time, I tried to remain calm and put the 
     principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance into 
     practice. For some of the guards, the ones that had a little 
     bit of kind heart in them, it had a positive effect. After a 
     while, they could see I was a good person and their 
     consciences began to function. They were more open to what I 
     said and didn't yell back in reply. They didn't want to have 
     anything to do with the beatings.
       At around 4:00 pm on March 27, the guards entered my cell 
     and told me that it was time to leave. Upon walking out of 
     the cell, I grabbed my luggage and was escorted into a police 
     van with seven more uniformed police. I was taken to a place 
     where they picked up my new return trip tickets, and then to 
     the airport. At the airport, they drove the police van up to 
     the plane itself so that I was not allowed to come into 
     contact with any other people while in China. They treated me 
     like a highly dangerous criminal. They most likely feared 
     that I would tell the people I came into contact with that 
     Falun Dafa was good and expose the beating I had received 
     while in custody.
       Though it was very brutal, what I experienced is nothing 
     compared to what the people in China have been facing 
     everyday for the past two and a half years; and they don't 
     have a safe home to come home to. Hundreds of thousands are 
     languishing in labor camps and detention centers all across 
     the country where they are tortured with electric batons, 
     beatings, sleep deprivation, and mind-altering drugs. If they 
     refuse to sign statements to give up practicing Falun Gong, 
     they are forced into brainwashing classes where they are 
     barraged with hate propaganda designed to break their wills. 
     The physical and mental suffering is unimaginable.
       The day I arrived in China, there was a huge police sweep 
     in the northeast city of Changchun. The police seep came 
     after a state order from the Chinese President two weeks 
     earlier to ``kill without pardon'' Falun Dafa practitioners 
     who post information or expose the truth of the persecution 
     to other people. The police were given a quota: five 
     practitioners for every one policeman. In one day, over 5,000 
     people were arrested. Over the course of a single week, 
     dozens have reportedly been executed.
       The situation becomes increasingly urgent with each passing 
     day, and is approaching the severity of Nazi Germany. Though 
     I didn't get to talk to many Chinese people directly while in 
     China, I am glad that at least more people here are aware of 
     the situation. I hope that all kind-hearted people can offer 
     any support that they can.

     

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