(Minghui.org) Ms. Duan Xianglian, 63, lives in Lei Yang City, Hunan Province. She and three other Falun Gong practitioners went to the Yiaotian Township farmer’s market to buy groceries on June 5, 2016, and told people they met there that Falun Gong teaches people to be good, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes its practitioners.

Soldiers Follow and Harass Two Women

Several soldiers followed the practitioners while they shopped. They first followed an elderly woman and searched her bag but did not find anything. Since they initially saw this practitioner with Ms. Duan Xianglian, they started looking for Ms. Duan.

They rushed back and forth, searching desperately, until they finally found her at a vegetable stand. The soldiers surrounded her and searched her pockets against her will, but they failed to find what they were looking for.

Ms. Duan waited to take a bus back to the city. The soldiers followed her and wanted to take her to their truck. One of them then searched Ms. Duan's vegetables, which she had left at a villager’s door. He found a few Falun Gong amulets and shouted, “What are these? What are these?”

She replied, “Why don’t you read them and find out? Isn’t Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance good? We want to be good, and we are advising people to be good. Are we wrong? Why are you arresting good people and not the bad people?”

Bystanders Criticize the Soldiers

The people at the market started to gather around. A local farmer in his fifties stepped up and said, “I thought you were trying to find a crook here at the market, but you want to arrest this old lady instead! She is a good person. She has told us to do good things and to be honest and kind. Why don’t you go arrest bad guys? Why do you want to arrest her?”

An elderly woman came up, grabbed Ms. Duan’s hand, and said to her, “Sit with me on this bench. Let’s see who dares to arrest a good person like you!” Several other women also gathered around and said, “All Falun Gong practitioners are good people and have never done anything bad.”

A farmer who already knew the truth about Falun Gong said to the soldiers, “If you take her to the police station, she will be released immediately.” Ms. Duan said to the soldiers, “The people in the police station already understand the truth about Falun Gong.”

A soldier responded with surprise, “Really?”

Ms. Duan replied, “Yes. Many Falun Dafa practitioners have already sued Jiang Zemin in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Procuratorate. If you still don’t believe me, you can go to the police station and ask them. What do you want to accomplish by taking me to the police station?”

Soldiers Throw Ms. Duan Off the Bus

But the soldiers would not listen. The leader held three Falun Dafa truth-clarification fliers that he had taken from people, and tried to force Ms. Duan to go with them. She kept explaining the facts about Falun Gong to the soldiers, but they refused to listen. They pushed her around and said they would take her to the police station.

One soldier started recording her with his cell phone. When she saw the bus coming, Ms. Duan picked up her vegetables and ran to get on.

The soldiers caught up with her, forced her hands off the entry railing, and threw her off the bus. Ms. Duan fell on her back about three yards away from the bus and passed out. A soldier came over and kicked her in the chest, which was still swollen and deeply bruised a week later.

After Ms. Duan regained consciousness, she tried to get up, but could not move. The soldiers all stood motionless. The one who had been recording was making repeated phone calls to urge the police to come.

Ms. Duan struggled a few more times but was still not able to get up. She said to the soldiers, “Because I practice Falun Gong, your throwing me down and kicking me in the chest won’t hurt me. But if I were an ordinary person, I would probably be seriously injured. Why are you so mean to a Falun Gong practitioner who has done nothing wrong?”

Ms. Duan then grabbed the belt of the soldier who had kicked her and slowly got up. The soldier yelled at her, “Let go of my belt! Let go of my belt!” Just then, a police car pulled up.

Police Release Ms. Duan

Ms. Duan told the police in front of the crowd that the soldiers had thrown her to the ground, and she had lost consciousness. The police checked her injuries, then took her to the station. An officer questioned her, and she explained the facts about Falun Gong to him, and advised him to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Her family was allowed to take her home at 2:00 p.m. the same day.

It was later discovered that these soldiers were from the eighth division of the air force stationed at Lei Yang (Troop 95356).