(Minghui.org) The Chinese communist regime has been notorious for intensifying the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners around sensitive dates. Surveillance of these law-abiding practitioners reached a fever pitch during this year’s China International Import Expo held in Shanghai November 5-10.
Authorities in Shanghai recruited locals and trained them to be “monitors” of Falun Gong practitioners. Starting on October 29, 2024, these monitors were dispatched across the city to wait outside practitioners’ homes. They worked in shifts to carry out around-the-clock surveillance. Whenever a practitioner stepped out of his or her home, the monitors would take photos of them and submit them to the local street committees and police stations.
Ms. Tang Baozhi, in her 70s, and her daughter, Ms. Chen Yao, around 50, who live together in the Putuo District, are two such practitioners who were subjected to tight surveillance during the Expo. Agents from the Putuo District Domestic Security Division, the Dongxin Road Police Station, and the Tanjiadu Road Police Station, submitted photos of the mother and daughter to the Shanghai City Police Department, which then used its widespread surveillance system with facial recognition function to track them.
As soon as the surveillance system discovered Ms. Tang or Ms. Chen anywhere in the city, it notified the patrolling officers in that area to harass or arrest them. Ms. Chen was arrested by the Jiangning Road Police Station while on her way to a job interview. She was released hours later. When she and her mother went grocery shopping the next day, people followed them. After they returned home, a police officer came to harass them.
On November 11, the day after the Expo ended, an officer stopped Ms. Tang on her way to the grocery store. They threatened to take her to a police station for further interrogation. The relentless harassment left her with heart palpitations and general weakness.
Both Ms. Tang and Ms. Chen, who used to live in nearby Zhejiang Province, have been repeatedly jailed for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Tang’s husband, Mr. Chen Wenqian, also a Falun Gong practitioner, died as a result of the persecution at an unknown date.
Other local practitioners known to have been monitored during the Expo included Xu Nixia in the Baoshan District, Liu Shunming in the Minhang District, and You Xiuyun in the Xuhui District.
Related Reports:
Ms. Tang Baozhi Resists Persecution by Going on a Hunger Strike
Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Shanghai Women's Prison
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