A common tactic of the Chinese government in fighting crime is to "stike hard" through focusing its police forces in one area for a period of time. However, the Qiqihar City government officials used this type of campaign as an excuse to raise the level of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

According to a Falun Dafa Information Center report, from March to June 2002, the Qiqihar city government increased the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners and their family members under the “strike hard” tactic. The government awards 200 yuan for each practitioner arrested, inciting the police officers to make mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners. The elderly and young children practitioners were not spared.

The report points out that the arrested practitioners were subjected to brutal torture methods such as being hanged up with their arms twisted behind their backs, the tiger bench [an instrument of torture where one is forced to sit on a small iron bench with knees tightly tied on the bench and hands tied behind the back. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the legs to make it even harder to bear the pain], electric shocks, and force-feeding of peppery water. A female practitioner was force-fed more than 500 grams of alcohol as she was brutally hanged up by police. It was learned that the most brutal tortures were done by police from the Tiefeng Police Department, Longsha Branch Police Department, and Anshun Road Police Department in Qiqihar City.

It was also reported that practitioner Song Anyu was illegally arrested and tortured by the police. After repeated beatings, they broke his leg in several places. During the time Song Anyu was illegally detained at the No. 1 Detention Center, the steel wire that was used to connect his legs became exposed. He appealed to the detention center and local court to have the steel wire taken out, but his request was denied. In April 2003, Song Anyu was illegally sentenced to 14 years in prison and sent to Tailai Prison in Qiqihar City. According to a report in a local newspaper, police officers responsible for persecuting practitioners Song Anyu and Wang Jinfan (who was illegally sentenced to 10 years in prison and is currently detained at Harbin Female Prison) received monetary awards from 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan. One of the perpetrators is Chen Zhicai, a police officer from Harbin Railroad Police Department.

The news report stated that in April 2003, the Heilongjiang Province Special Case Group arrested Sun Morong, the head of the Tiefeng Branch Police Department, Feng Lei, the former head of No. 1 Detention Center, and Ho Jianwei, the former deputy head of the Jianhua Police Department. Investigations revealed that three of the perpetrators were members of a city mafia.