(Beijing) The police officers of Changping, Beijing, worked with the government to hire unidentified individuals to harass human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang and his family before forcefully entering and pressuring them to leave.
Hired to Harass
On the evening of the 14th, while Wang Quanzhang was taking out the trash downstairs, three unnamed individuals were already stationed outside his door. Wang Quanzhang repeatedly asked for their identities, but they replied that they were merely citizens. Two of them blocked the doorway.
Faked injury
After his wife, Li Wenzu, opened the door, a man falsely claimed that his foot was caught in the door and accused Wang Quanzhang of attacking him. Immediately, he pretended to fall and lay at the entrance of Wang Quanzhang’s residence.
Responses from social media
Wang Quanzhang uploaded portions of the interaction on social media. Lawyer Bao Longjun said, “They must have such thick skin…” Human rights lawyer Chen Jiangang said, “It’s clear that these individuals know that what they are doing is illegal and unethical, but the Communist Party gave them a task, and they are willing to do it anyway. It was the same case when hundreds of people surrounded Chen Guangcheng. In China, the most terrifying and evil are not the Chinese Communist Party, but these ignorant people who can’t distinguish right from wrong and blindly obey evil.”
Illegally trespassing
A police officer with the last name Liu from the Songyuan police station in Changping District, Beijing, showed up at the house. He reportedly heard claims that Wang Quanzhang and Li Wenzu “illegally trespassed someone else’s residence.” Wang conversed with the officer outside through the door’s surveillance camera. The officer requested verification of his legal identity and lease information, and for the physical person, the legal identity, and the renter’s information to all match up. Wang assured them that everything was legal and requested for the police to present any evidence of suspicion, stating that otherwise it would be considered a “presumption of guilt.”
Forceful entry
The police officer from Changping District (Badge number: 054725) did not present any legal documents and forcefully entered Wang Quanzhang’s legally rented residence. Li Wenzu requested that he show his police identification document and follow proper procedures. The police officer aggressively declared, “I’m wearing a police uniform so I can come in. Wearing a police uniform means I do not need to display my work identification. It is my right.”
Wang Quanzhang exclaimed, “I am a lawful tenant with tenant rights. What kind of society is this? What kind of country is this? What kind of world is this?”
Continuing harassment
Since April, Wang Quanzhang’s entire family, including their underage son Wang Guangwei, has been facing repeated harassment and pressure from the Beijing authorities. Authorities force them to move. They rent a new place only to move shortly after. In some instances, police pressured landlords behind the scenes, coercing them to evict the family. In this particular case, Wang Quanzhang’s landlord personally recorded a video and presented the “Housing Lease Agreement” to demonstrate that the tenancy was voluntary for both parties.
48 hours to comply
Currently, Wang Quanzhang is renting a house in the third district of Changshengyuan in Changping, Beijing, which belongs to a friend who is currently in the United States. Wang Quanzhang provided the lease agreement and a video from the landlord, but the police insisted that it didn’t prove legal occupancy. They demanded the presence of the landlord or a relative with their ID card, the Hukou (household registration) booklet, and a property ownership certificate to the house to prove residency. The Changping police threatened to forcibly evict them if the above requirements were not met within 48 hours.
Fabricating charges
After entering the rented premises, the police started taking photos everywhere, attempting to create some sort of incriminating evidence. Among them, they said a faucet on the floor was a doorknob, perhaps hoping to use it as evidence of “illegal intrusion into someone else’s property.” A netizen responded to the situation on social media, “What are they trying to do? What kind of charges are they trying to fabricate?”
Operation from superiors
Dissident Yang Zili contacted the Songyuan police station, where a police officer with the last name Wang (Badge number: 066575) stated, “The operation is instructed by higher-ups.” Yang Zili conducted an online search and found that the deputy chief of the station is named Wang Bingqi. Yang Zili commented, “Regarding Wang Quanzhang’s family since the landlord did not evict them, the police are resorting to engaging upfront with hooligan-like behavior.”
After the incident
Wang Quanzhang reflected on the absurd interaction with Beijing police, “When the landlord cut off our water and electricity, we called the police. But they dismissed it as a ‘civil dispute’ and left without taking any action. When the landlord smashed glass to remove the door, the police said, ‘Removing your door and breaking your glass is not a problem,’ and left without doing anything. When the landlord threatened and evicted us in the middle of the night and refused to refund our rent, the police considered it a civil dispute and left without intervening. But now, when the landlord signed a contract and recorded a video stating he rented the house to us, the police claim that we illegally invaded someone’s residence and (the officers) refused to leave.”
The next morning
On the morning of June 15, authorities covered the peephole camera and cut off the electricity. People were stationed downstairs near the entrance. Li Wenzu expressed in a video, “The electricity meter in our apartment 502 is no longer showing up.” However, the power was restored after about an hour.
Threatened to leave Beijing
The Beijing authorities planned to drive them out of Beijing one by one in an attempt to minimize their interaction with the outside world and their diplomatic influence. Facing the pressure of forced eviction from the authorities in Beijing, lawyer Wang Quanzhang stated that they only seek to live peacefully in Beijing, but it seems that they will continue to encounter new challenges in the future.
Multiple cases
The plight of lawyer Wang Quanzhang is not an isolated case. ChinaAid Association has continuously exposed the forced eviction and persecution of many Christian families across China.
~Gao Zhensai, Special Correspondent of ChinaAid
