Associated Press Writer

DECEMBER 10, 05:44 EST

Falun Gong member

Associated Press/Anat Givon

BEIJING (AP) - Police seized at least two dozen Falun Gong followers who unfurled banners and chanted slogans on China's Tiananmen Square on Sunday in the latest protest against a brutal crackdown on their sect.

Defying tight security in and around the sprawling plaza in central Beijing, protesters emerged in twos or threes from the crowds to shout ``Falun Gong is not a crime'' and hold up bright yellow banners reading ``Truth, Compassion, Tolerance'' - the group's stated principles.

Plainclothes and uniformed police quickly approached, ripping down banners and bundling protesters into vans, which sped away. Police refrained from the violence of previous protests, when they kicked and punched [group] followers in view of tourists.

The protesters - mostly plainly dressed men and women in their 50s and 60s - did not resist arrest. The protests erupted sporadically for about 45 minutes but were too small to force the square's closure, as two larger demonstrations did two months ago.

In the biggest, on Oct. 1, China's National Day, at least 350 protesters were beaten and arrested and the square shut for more than 30 minutes on a day that commemorates 51 years of communist rule.

Smaller protests involving a handful of people have become almost daily events as Falun Gong tries to draw attention to the government's campaign to suppress it.

Sunday's demonstration marked the 52nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a sweeping U.N. rights treaty. About 200 Falun Gong followers also marched in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory where the sect remains legal.

Beijing outlawed Falun Gong in July 1999 amid fears its millions of members could challenge the Communist Party's monopoly on power. Since then, police have rounded up tens of thousands of followers and sent as many as 5,000 to labor camps.

Human rights groups say at least 74 have died in custody; Falun Gong says the number is higher.

The government has confirmed some of the deaths but denied any mistreatment of detained sect members. It calls [...].

Falun Gong insists that it is harmless and seeks only the freedom to practice its beliefs, an eclectic mix of Taoism, Buddhism and the ideas of its founder, former government clerk Li Hongzhi, now believed to be in the United States.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/pilotnews/apwire.cfm?url=http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?SLUG=CHINA%2dBANNED%2dSECT