Shanghai petitioners Gu Guoping and Liu Jiemei, who were sent back after petitioning in Beijing, visited Beijing for petitioning on January 25. They were fined by the Tianning Temple Police Station of the Xicheng Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau for going to Tiananmen Square and warned that they would be detained if they went to sensitive areas again.
Gu Guoping told a reporter from Epoch Times that they had planned to be intercepted by Beijing police and taken to Jiujing Village, which would create a record of their petitioning in Beijing. Guoping said, “There is a petitioner diversion center in the Public Security Branch where petitioners wait to be taken to Jiujing Village. Surprisingly, we were not taken to Jiujing Village on both occasions we were taken to the Public Security Branch. The police said Jiujing Village does not accept people over 70 years old. Does that mean those over 70 cannot petition for their rights? In response to this, Liu Jiemei called the Beijing complaint hotline, and the reply she received was that the Beijing municipal government could not control Jiujing Village.”
Gu Guoping mentioned that on the morning of January 26, they took a bus to the east gate of Tiananmen Square, but the bus went directly to Wangfujing without letting them get off, citing strict controls around Tiananmen East. When they got off at Wangfujing, they were stopped by the police and taken to the Dongjiao Minxiang Police Station, but were eventually released by the Beijing office in the evening.
On the morning of January 27, they attempted to go to Tiananmen East again but were taken to the Tiananmen Police Station and then transferred to the Public Security Branch, where they stayed until the Beijing office came to get them out in the evening.
At around 1 p.m. on January 28, they went to Fuyou Street near Zhongnanhai and were again asked for their identification by the police. Guoping explained, “The police asked us why we were at Fuyou Street. I said we came to address leaders and reflect on issues that have remained unsolved for ten or twenty years.” They were once more taken to the Public Security Branch, but still not to Jiujing Village. Among them were elderly petitioners over 70 from Guiyang and Shaanxi.
Gu Guoping shared, “While at the Public Security Branch, I was summoned by the Tianning Temple Police Station to give a statement. I recounted my petitioning experiences and the suffering I have endured, but they refused to record any of it and did not collect any materials. Instead, they warned me not to go to sensitive areas again, saying this warning was the last, and if I did it again, they would directly detain me. This means they are not solving problems but getting rid of the ones who raise them.”
He expressed, “If ordinary people with grievances cannot voice them, is this a normal society? Liu Jiemei from Hongkou District had her housing unlawfully confiscated by the district government and was not relocated for 26 years. Whenever we go to Beijing to seek help from leaders, we are accused of causing trouble. Then what are those department leaders there for? Where is the Communist Party’s so-called glory, greatness, and correctness?”
Gu Guoping mentioned, “Petitioners from outside Beijing say that petitioners have to pay for being taken to Jiujing Village by local governments, including transportation, meals, and administrative fees, amounting to around 1,000 yuan per petitioner.”
On January 29, they were sent back to Shanghai along with 95-year-old petitioner Liu Shuzhen, her daughter Cui Fufang, and a total of 14 people in the same train car.