WASHINGTON D.C. — On Sept. 24, a Falun Gong practitioner was attacked near the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington as Beijing-backed groups gathered during Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the capital. According to the practitioner, Xin Qin, and multiple witnesses, the confrontation unfolded on Constitution Avenue at around 3:30 p.m. while she was photographing fellow Falun Gong practitioners holding protest banners.
Xin said several pro-Beijing demonstrators repeatedly ordered her to move back before Li Huahong, a New York-based activist known for opposing Falun Gong, approached her.
“I went over there to take photos of practitioners holding banners. It was in front of a public building, so no permit was required. They [the pro-CCP individuals] kept telling me to move back. Li Huahong kept approaching me, so I kept stepping backward, five or six steps,” recounted Xin. “Then she suddenly grabbed me and pulled me toward her, making it look as though I had lunged at her. At the same time, several people came over and hit and bit me.”
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‘She suddenly grabbed me’
Xin said she did not fight back and instead shouted for police. “I didn’t fight back. I just shouted, ‘Police! Police!’ A police officer came out of the building, so the officer witnessed what happened. Even after the police officer came out, they continued hitting me. My hand was scratched and injured.” She added, “My leg was also injured. Then she bit me, and three or four people rushed over and attacked and bit me.”
“Americans are robbers.” That is what a pro-CCP group blasted through loudspeakers in the heart of Washington, D.C., while Xi Jinping was being hosted at the White House.
— Aric Chen (@aricchen) September 24, 2026
Not in Beijing. On American streets, near the National Mall, in front of an EPA building, as Falun Gong… https://t.co/O94TBr4jgX pic.twitter.com/yOHd9teSE0
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Xin said the fall also injured her shoulder and damaged her phone. “She [Li Huahong] suddenly grabbed me and pulled me backward, so my hand and shoulder immediately hit the ground. My hand was injured, and one corner of my cellphone was broken. I can’t raise my arm to a 90-degree angle.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Despite being peaceful in nature, the CCP launched a brutal campaign to eradicate the practice in July 1999 after seeing its rapid rise in popularity as a threat to its authoritarian regime. Since then, thousands of practitioners have perished at the hands of Chinese police, with many today still undergoing routine monitoring, arbitrary travel bans, and arrests.
Minghui, a U.S.-based website that tracks and documents the persecution of Falun Gong, separately reported that police witnessed the confrontation and restrained and handcuffed Li at the scene. As of Sept. 28, however, the Metropolitan Police Department had not issued a public news release identifying Li. Though the incident is now under investigation, Li’s custody status remains unclear.
Prior assault conviction
Li has a documented history of confrontations involving Falun Gong practitioners in New York. In January 2013, Queens Criminal Court convicted her of assault with intent to cause injury following a 2011 incident in Flushing. According to previous reports, Li attacked a man who intervened while she was confronting a female Falun Gong practitioner.
Li has also been associated with the Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance, or CACWA, an organization that campaigns against Falun Gong. A federal appeals court case involving Falun Gong practitioners identified Li as one of CACWA’s leaders, while earlier litigation alleged links between CACWA and China’s state-backed anti-Falun Gong apparatus.
Researchers investigating violence surrounding Xi’s 2023 visit to San Francisco also identified Li as a prominent CACWA figure and documented allegations that she took part in attacks on protesters there.
Calls for accountability
The Sept. 24 incident occurred amid demonstrations across Washington as Xi met U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time on U.S. soil in over a decade. Falun Gong practitioners, Chinese democracy activists, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kong activists, and other groups staged protests during the visit, while pro-Beijing demonstrators also gathered along parts of Xi’s route.
Falun Gong practitioners have increasingly described overseas intimidation and physical confrontations as part of a wider pattern of transnational repression. U.S. officials and researchers have also documented efforts by Chinese authorities and affiliated actors to pressure dissidents and religious groups abroad, although any organizational link between Li and Chinese authorities in the Washington incident has not been established.
For Xin, the immediate issue was more straightforward, as she was assaulted while attempting to photograph a peaceful protest on a public street. Though police intervention ended the confrontation, questions remain over whether additional participants will face charges and whether investigators will look into any broader coordination stemming from Beijing-backed entities.
Original article
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