Beijing official police have started to interrogate and examine, detain and repatriate on a large scale visitors from every region of the country to Beijing who are appealing to state authority for help.

As the number of people coming to Beijing to appeal has increased, there is speculation that those appealing are concerned of about the Fourth Plenary Conference of the Chinese Communist Party to be held in September.
The Beijing official police, along with a special group for interception organized from many cities and counties, have recently taken the strict action to question and detain the appealers in Beijing, and intercept and return them to their hometowns.

According to an internal source, the number of visitors appealing to higher authorities has reached nearly 230,000 people. Because they frequently appear in the center of Beijing city, in places such as Xinhua gate and Fuyou street, officials have further reinforced security measures in these areas. On Aug. 26, the local police station at Fuyou street successfully detained 500 to 600 people, including Zheng Mingfang from Tianjin, who had been driven to appeal by her local government.

A reporter of Radio Free Asia contacted Zheng on the evening of Aug. 26, while she was detained in the local police station. According to Zheng, she had been detained since around 5:30 p.m., and there had been many other appealers inside the station. Moreover, her father suffered a broken bone during his appeal for help. He was detained in the same police station.

When Zheng was asked why the police detained her and other appealers, she said she was told, “They do not need any reason. A moment ago they also took a video tape of me, and will likely charge me with instigating others to appeal. I am well prepared for that consequence. I pledged to fight to the death for human rights.” She continued to say, “By seeing me answering a cell phone, the police not only video recorded me, but they also created a rumor saying I had a connections with overseas media.”

Zheng added, “The government has taken away our property and deprived us of our rights to liberty and life. I am fully prepared to suffer a greater political persecution because everyone has a share of responsibility for human rights and for democracy and for the fate of his nation.”

A local police officer stated, during his interview, that they had not wrongly treated the appealers, as local police station is responsible for maintaining the public security around Zhongnanhai.

Li Yuren, a peaceful appealer, believes that Beijing will hold the Fourth Plenary Conference in September, so officials are afraid of these common people protesting against the corruption, oppression and persecution at the hands of state and local governments. Because they perceive that common people appealing for help is opposed to the government., they do not allow the citizens to complain or to expose illegal operations by whatever means necessary.