BEIJING (TIP): Grieving family members of passengers aboard MH370 held an emotional gathering in Beijing on Sept 10, six months after the plane disappeared, demanding answers and accusing Chinese authorities of turning against them. Chinese passengers account for about two-thirds of the 239 people aboard the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to China‘s capital, with dozens of their relatives reportedly beaten and arrested in recent months.

About 30 family members convened on Beijing’s Lama Temple, a popular Tibetan Buddhist site, to vent their frustration and pray for the missing on a day that marks both the six-month anniversary of the flight’s disappearance as well as China’s traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for families to reunite. “In China, today is Family Reunion Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival,” said a 55-year-old woman Zhang, and whose daughter was aboard the flight. Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. But the massive air, sea and underwater search has till now failed to find any wreckage.