Country: Ireland
Name: Gerald O'Connor, male, 22, Master Student in Dublin City University, Ireland
Location of incident: Beijing, China
Description:
After learning of Zhao Ming’s release from Tuanhe labour camp in Beijing, Mr. Gerald O’Connor went to Beijing to guarantee Mr. Zhao’s safe passage back to Ireland. Bringing a letter from Trinity College Dublin, where Ming was studying before his detention, Mr. O’Connor went to the Irish Embassy in Beijing to arrange for a visa for Mr. Zhao.
The Irish Embassy in Beijing helped arrange all relevant paper work for Zhao Ming’s visa. Because Mr. O’Connor could not get in contact with Ming in Beijing, he went to appeal to the Chinese people on Tiananmen Square.
During his stay in Beijing, Mr. O’Connor was spontaneously questioned, while walking around, several times by police officers as to where he was from and whether he was a Falun Gong practitioner. He also witnessed first hand display boards slandering and spreading hate about Falun Gong.
When appealing on Tiananmen Square, Mr. O’Connor held up a small banner that read “Falun Dafa Hao” (Falun Dafa is good). He also shouted the same phrase three times. The police removed him from the square very quickly. Those with cameras were also brought away by police.
Immediately after his arrival in Qianmen police station (a police station just off Tiananmen Square), the police tried to intimidate Mr. O’Connor by shouting at him in Chinese and English. They also attempted to take a photograph of him after an officer kneed him in the stomach and twisted his finger’s away from in front of his face.
Mr. O’Connor continually told the police officers that Falun Dafa was good. The officers responded by punching and kicking him. While being transferred to another location, two young officers also beat him in the back of the police car.
The police then took Mr. O’Connor to an underground police car park, where several police officers again beat him to find out where his hotel was. After disclosing the information Mr. O’Connor was then taken to an underground police cell, where he was strip searched and repeatedly questioned. Again, the police attempted to take Mr. O’Connor’s photograph.
The following day, Mr. O’Connor was deported after the police spent nearly all of his money.
The Irish government were told that he was treated well and detained for only three hours. A few weeks later, Mr. O’Connor received slanderous materials to his home.
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