Elderly Falun Gong Practitioner Beaten in Southern California — Bystanders Step In, Suspect Arrested

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Broad Daylight Attack Near Shopping Plaza

A peaceful Saturday turned violent in the City of Industry, a suburb east of Los Angeles, when a man allegedly attacked May Zhang, a 70-year-old woman practicing Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), a spiritual movement rooted in the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance.

Zhang and a fellow practitioner had set up informational banners near a local plaza. The signs displayed messages critical of China's ruling Communist Party (CCP), including phrases like "The CCP ≠ China" and "Quit the CCP." While Zhang was on the opposite side of the street speaking with passersby, she noticed a middle-aged Asian man forcibly tearing down the banners and walking away with them.

She approached him calmly. According to Zhang, she identified the banners as her property and offered to answer any questions he had. His response was to yell at her and threaten her.

Iron Rods, Stones, and a Tree Branch

What followed was a serious escalation. According to Zhang, the man had come prepared: he was carrying several thin iron rods. When she followed him at a distance hoping to recover the banners, he allegedly threw stones at her to scare her off.

"When I was about three feet away from him, he pulled out several thin iron rods and threw them at my eyes and face, as if he were throwing darts," Zhang recounted. She said she managed to dodge them.

She kept her distance but continued following him toward the plaza. When she caught up to him and again asked for the banners, the man grabbed a thick tree branch and struck her across the back of the head with enough force to snap the branch. Zhang experienced immediate pain and dizziness. Her arm was also hit as she tried to shield herself, causing her finger to swell.

Witnesses in the plaza reacted. Someone shouted to stop the man, and a group of bystanders ran over and physically subdued him. Local police arrived quickly and made an arrest.

What Is Falun Gong — and Why Is It Targeted?

Falun Gong is a meditation-based spiritual practice introduced in China in the early 1990s. By the end of that decade, it had attracted tens of millions of followers — a popularity that alarmed China's Communist Party leadership. In July 1999, the CCP launched a nationwide campaign to eliminate the practice.

Since then, there have been widespread reports of systematic torture, forced imprisonment, forced labor, and organ harvesting targeting practitioners. The U.S. State Department has formally recognized the campaign, noting that for over two decades, Chinese authorities have targeted Falun Gong practitioners and their families in an ongoing pattern of abuses and rights violations.

The CCP's hostility toward Falun Gong has not remained within China's borders.

Beijing's Long Arm — Inside the United States

The City of Industry incident fits a documented and growing pattern of anti-Falun Gong intimidation on American soil.

Flushing, New York — home to the city's largest Chinese population — has regularly seen incidents of pro-CCP individuals harassing or physically attacking Falun Gong practitioners, dating back to at least 2008. Just weeks before the California attack, in February 2026, a man struck a Falun Gong volunteer at an information booth in Flushing from behind, knocking her to the ground.

The pattern goes beyond street-level violence. In November 2024, two naturalized U.S. citizens were sentenced to federal prison for acting as agents of the Chinese Communist Party in operations targeting Falun Gong practitioners inside the United States. One of them, Li Ping, a Florida resident and longtime Verizon employee, was convicted of assisting China's Ministry of State Security in collecting intelligence on Chinese dissidents, including Falun Gong practitioners, and received a four-year sentence.

According to a Freedom House analysis and the Institute for Strategic Research, practitioners of Falun Gong globally face intense scrutiny under the CCP's transnational repression operations.

The U.S. Congress has passed five separate resolutions condemning the persecution of Falun Gong, including one that specifically addressed attacks and harassment of Falun Gong adherents and their supporters by Chinese agents within U.S. territory.

"A Threat to the Local Community"

Li Youfu, president of the U.S. Southwestern Dafa Association, based in California, condemned what he described as a continuation of the CCP's overseas repression campaign. He noted that several suspected CCP operatives have already faced federal charges in the United States for targeting Falun Gong, and expressed confidence that more would be held accountable.

May Zhang herself, despite her injuries, remained composed. She thanked the bystanders and officers who intervened, and noted the sharp contrast between the violence she experienced and the values of the country she was exercising her rights in.

"The U.S. is a free society, and people have the freedom of belief and expression," she said — adding that CCP-linked attacks represent a direct threat to those freedoms, not just for Falun Gong practitioners, but for the wider community.

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Sources

1. Falun Dafa Information Center — CCP Agents Sentenced for Targeting Falun Gong in the U.S.: https://faluninfo.net/two-ccp-agents-sentenced-for-targeting-falun-gong-in-united-states/

2. Wikipedia — Persecution of Falun Gong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong

3. Wikipedia — Transnational Repression by China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnational_repression_by_China

4. U.S. State Department — 25 Years of PRC Repression and Abuse of Falun Gong: https://2021-2025.state.gov/25-years-of-prc-government-repression-and-abuse-of-falun-gong/

5. U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) — Annual Report 2025: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2025/12/12/231676.html

6. Falun Dafa Information Center — U.S. Government on the Persecution of Falun Gong: https://faluninfo.net/united-states-government/

7. UK Home Office Country Policy Note — Falun Gong, China, November 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/china-country-policy-and-information-notes/country-policy-and-information-note-falun-gong-china-november-2025-accessible

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