On 5/12/94 at 15:45 Thiem again committed suicide the second time. He slit his wrist. He was taken to Shatin at 16:20 the same day.
AA
- ... Police force used rifles spraying tear gas into the area where boat people held a hunger strike - on those whose health already declined, enabled to walk or sit...
- ... Police force in the field shot tear gas into the crowd, including women, children, and the elderly. The boat people had to all lie down to avoid it. More barbarically, a few policemen rushed in pulled them out and spray tear gas into their faces, making many women, children, pregnant women, old women fall unconscious. To protest against the barbaric attack of the police, Mr. Thang committed self-incineration. Immediately, the police rushed in and held him, using truncheons and army boots to beat him up brutally...
- ... Not being able to withstand the large amount of tear gas, some women, children, and the elderly had to exit the room. They then were caught under the storm of truncheons from the police and were beaten brutally, causing many to be unconscious and injured right in front of the room. The police then took them to the office area...
- ... Right after the order of relocation was informed, a police force on the hill and on the roof of the two-stories camp office, within 4 rounds of attack in 4 hours, fired almost a thousand tear gas grenades directly at the boat people sitting on top of the roof. After several attacks, the whole sky of camp 7 sank into a thick yellow smoke of tear gas...
- ... More barbarically, the police force used even the kinds of tear gas that are internationally strictly forbidden against using directly to a person...
- ... The poisonous gas of thousands of tear gas grenades went way pass the ultimate endurance of a person. Many pregnant women, children, and the elderly were seriously burnt and fell unconscious on the roof top. Some fainted and fell from the roof down to the ground...
- ... Everyone had to leave the roof to go down, but then the police used truncheons, army boots to beat them up brutally. A child had his head pushed down to the dirty water by the police, and an old person was kicked off like a fallen leaf...
- ... Almost all men and a large number of women were beaten
brutally by the CSD officers at the camp office. Among them was
Mr. Thang, who was beaten almost to death many times. The CSD
officer used a broomstick to thrust into his genital area, and
used fire trying to burn him alive. Mrs Dung was carrying her
baby when she fell from the roof and was seriously injured, and
was then confined in the basement of Queen Hospital with police
at guard. Ms. Thin was beaten most painfully; they hit her until
she urinated...
- ... One of the Buddhist followers who was pregnant, was beaten
until seriously injured, in which case the unborn baby was
greatly affected...
CC
- ... The first round of fire stopped, the second then the third round followed. We were squirming in pain, in suffocation. Blood came out. There were people falling from the roof and were unconscious. The newborn babies lay unconscious inside their mother's arms...
- ... The victims like little Phuong got fired into the head,
bleeding like water running down on the shoulder...
DD
- ... Everytime tear gas was fire, the helicopter lowered itself and tilted the propeller to press air down making us suffocate...
- ... We raised babies high up so they can see, but they kept on firing, and they aimed at the people firing violently...
- ... Because the amount they fired was so much that the eyes and nose watered making it more difficult to breathe, and even making one cough out blood. Looking around, I saw people vomiting, children and many others fell unconscious. Many fell from the roof and then were pulled away by the police; many were burnt, their clothes were in fire. There was a little boy sitting on the roof who was fired at the head, bleeding suffusedly and screaming...
- ... Even my wife vomited blood with our 9 months old baby in her
arms. My wife fainted, and at that moment a tear gas grenade was
fired next to my baby's head...
EE
- ... In 4 rounds of attack, they fired thousands of tear gas grenades directly at the bodies of the boat people within 6 hours, and more dangerously, they flew the helicopter low and circled around using engine noise to oppress them mentally and to keep tear gas smoke from going up. At 12 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, most of the people on the roof fainted, some women and children fell down from the roof. 80% of the people got lung infections, a large number of others were seriously burnt, some got serious bone injuries by falling down from the roof and by being beaten brutally with truncheons and army boots...
- ... After being transferred to High Island camp, people of camp
7 had to undergo miserable situations like not having blankets to
cover themselves on cold nights, not having mosquito net to
sleep, not having clothes to change; at the same time, their
bodies were also in pain because of the beatings, the infections,
the burnt wounds from tear gas grenades. They were also mentally
threatened, and upon arriving High Island camp, they continued to
be detained...
FF
- ... (Morning of 7/4/94) This was a large planned operation.
Troops advanced into the camp included: 2 army tanks, 1 fire
truck together with 1250 men force well equipped with shields,
truncheons, rifles firing grenades, gas masks. Outside force
included numerous army tanks and 12-seat commercial trucks.
Waiting by the seashore were 2 battle ships. In the mopping-up
operation, tear gas grenades were fired from the police force,
from helicopters up above and from battle ships out by the shore.
The number of tear gas grenade used was 557 (Hong Kong government
office acknowledged this), but according to those who cleaned up
the battle field, it was more than 2000, not counting those fired
from the helicopters and the battle ships. Also according to news
from Hong Kong government office, the number of injuries was up
to 235 persons out of total population of 425 children, 525
women, and 510 men...
GG
- ... On 7/4/94, the police came into the camp 7 to suppress the
people. On this side, I climbed up the water tower looking over
with tears in my eyes, feeling sympathy for our compatriots.
There was a scene of a woman carrying her baby about a month old
hiding on the roof top. When the police climbed up to catch her,
she struggled and managed to get away from the hands of the
police, but both mother and child fell down from the roof and lay
unconscious.
The police asked the men to put two hands behind their back and beat them with truncheons; many were wounded...
HH
- ... On February 25, 1994, at camp 7 of Whitehead, the CSD
officers acted with violence, breaking up things, searching,
slandering the boat people and took 41 people to Victoria Prison,
39 of whom were forced to go up the plane on March 8, 1994. The
two left were a woman with her 3 years old daughter, who
struggled forcefully when the CSD tried to take them away. The
husband was threatened to be beaten if they could not find the
daughter, and when they found her, they snatched her away from
the father's arm and covered her mouth so that she could not
scream, and they then took her to the car. The mother tried
herself to break her own head (a form of suicide) three times and
was forced down by more than ten CSD officers and doctors, and
they used some kind of medical treatment to make her unconscious
and covered her body in a blanket and carried her away...
... At the Victoria Prison, the woman and her daughter continued the struggle with hunger strike for 30 days to condemn the crime of Hong Kong government and the UNHCR. Immediately, the CSD officers guarding at Victoria Prison had reacted with abusive and insulting language that violated the honour of the Vietnamese...
... Not being able to express the anger because of the difference in language, the woman tried to break her head to deliver the message, immediately, she was then injected with a medicine to make her crazy and was taken to a mental institution. They then informed the husband that she tried to strangle her daughter, but in reality, the lawyers and other workers and the boat people who live together with her all agreed that she was never before an insane person...
2) ... On April 7, 1994, the operation happen from 5:55 a.m. to about 11:00 a.m. with a total of 557 rounds of tear gas grenades, causing 270 people injured, burnt, and hundreds of people were beaten brutally, until their head was bleeding or they urinated, none of these however were given emergency care. As for me, I fainted on the roof from the tear gas, coughed out blood, and when I was taken down from the roof, I was kicked by the police and fell down hitting my chest to the ground. Then they took me to the gate, and when I asked them to let me go back and get some belongings, paper, and money, they just stick the truncheon into my mouth...
... In reality, I got to know and understand You, and I respect You a lot through the very touching event on the 28 and 29 of April, 1994. So I write this letter to You, pleading You to look into this matter and inform all other humanitarian organizations in the world about the truth of the incidence on April 7, 1994...
BB
Boat People Community in Section 3
Whitehead Detention Center, Shatin,
Hong KongHong Kong, May 2, 1994
To: The Supreme Master Ching Hai
... Our boat people community are very touched by Your conscientious heart and Your efforts trying to help those who are still detained in the Hong Kong camps in Southeast Asia. Your noble action, full of love, isn't any different from that of a Living Buddha opening Her arms to rescue and help the refugees like us. We always engrave in our heart Your noble gesture. From the deepest level of sufferings, of this Hell on earth, we can only say two words - Thank You - from the anxious hearts of those who live in an ill-treated prison. You've heard the crying of our suffering souls. You've heard the cries for help of the Vietnamese refugees children writhing in the smoke of tear gas used by the Hong Kong police. You've shared with us all the sorrows, anxieties of those people who are living at the bottom of human Hell...
... On April 24, 1994. Boat people in White Head center stood under the torrential rain to fight for refugees rights, protest against forced repatriation policy. Even children continued to stand solemnly on the camp fields and sang out loud in order to forget the smoke of tear gas still wafting around, forget the lamentable, disgraceful, hard lives in a foreign land. We sang out loud because we knew that out there, The Supreme Master Ching Hai and her fellow practitioners, and those with loving hearts all over the world, do not mind of the difficulties and hardships, flying to Hong Kong to struggle for us the boat people...
... On May 2, 1994, outraged by the barbaric actions of the Hong Kong police suppressing Vietnamese women and children, a refugee live in camp 3 had decided to commit self-incineration to protest against police's suppression on July 4, 1994, against unfair screening process, and against the policy of forced repatriation. His plan did not succeed, however, but it's still a proof showing indignant feelings against the unfair treatments of Hong Kong and UNHCR toward Vietnamese boat people...
General Secretary of the Committee to Fight for Refugee Rights Section 3, Whitehead Detention Center.
INDEX | HOME |
- ... On February 25, 1994, at camp 7 of Whitehead, the CSD
officers acted with violence, breaking up things, searching,
slandering the boat people and took 41 people to Victoria Prison,
39 of whom were forced to go up the plane on March 8, 1994. The
two left were a woman with her 3 years old daughter, who
struggled forcefully when the CSD tried to take them away. The
husband was threatened to be beaten if they could not find the
daughter, and when they found her, they snatched her away from
the father's arm and covered her mouth so that she could not
scream, and they then took her to the car. The mother tried
herself to break her own head (a form of suicide) three times and
was forced down by more than ten CSD officers and doctors, and
they used some kind of medical treatment to make her unconscious
and covered her body in a blanket and carried her away...
- ... On 7/4/94, the police came into the camp 7 to suppress the
people. On this side, I climbed up the water tower looking over
with tears in my eyes, feeling sympathy for our compatriots.
There was a scene of a woman carrying her baby about a month old
hiding on the roof top. When the police climbed up to catch her,
she struggled and managed to get away from the hands of the
police, but both mother and child fell down from the roof and lay
unconscious.
- ... (Morning of 7/4/94) This was a large planned operation.
Troops advanced into the camp included: 2 army tanks, 1 fire
truck together with 1250 men force well equipped with shields,
truncheons, rifles firing grenades, gas masks. Outside force
included numerous army tanks and 12-seat commercial trucks.
Waiting by the seashore were 2 battle ships. In the mopping-up
operation, tear gas grenades were fired from the police force,
from helicopters up above and from battle ships out by the shore.
The number of tear gas grenade used was 557 (Hong Kong government
office acknowledged this), but according to those who cleaned up
the battle field, it was more than 2000, not counting those fired
from the helicopters and the battle ships. Also according to news
from Hong Kong government office, the number of injuries was up
to 235 persons out of total population of 425 children, 525
women, and 510 men...