November 21, 2001
British protesters and more than 30 other Westerners were to be expelled from China yesterday after being arrested in Tiananmen Square for demonstrating in support of the banned Falun Gong [group].
The group, mostly young people in their 20s and 30s, were arrested after unfurling a banner and sitting in the lotus position, with their eyes closed and their hands together.
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As hundreds of Chinese looked on, police moved in on the group, which included members from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, the US as well as Britain.
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The high-profile location the group chose for their ten minute protest, Tiananmen Square, is the symbolic heart of China and has been a regular venue for protests by Chinese Falun Gong followers - and the site of tight police security since the massacre of pro democracy protesters in 1989. Chinese authorities have pursued Falun Gong followers since the government outlawed the group in July 1999.
Falun Gong says almost 300 followers have died in custody during the [repression] and that many more have been tortured and abused. Thousands of followers have been sent to prisons and labour camps.
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
