14-02-02, 09:25

Police have detained about 40 Western members of the Falun Gong group after they protested in Tiananmen Square against a crackdown on their faith, state media said.

A Falun Gong spokeswoman in New York said the demonstration was to highlight China's persecution of the movement ahead of a visit to Beijing by US President Mr George W. Bush in a week.

Demonstrators pulled out yellow banners hidden under their clothes and shouted "Falun Gong is good!" in a protest against China's campaign to stamp out the spiritual movement it has branded an [Jiang's regime's slandeous words] and banned since 1999.

Police tackled demonstrators to the ground, kicking and punching some of them in the face, before wrestling them into police vans, witnesses said.

Astonished Chinese tourists, sightseeing on the square in the heart of Beijing for the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, crowded round to watch as almost every Westerner on the square was detained for protesting.

The official Xinhua news agency said police had detained 40 foreign Falun Gong followers, including a number of Britons, [...]

It was the second demonstration this week by Western Falun Gong members in Tiananmen, and security on the square was unusually tight, with police officers checking foreigners' identity papers and searching their bags.

China expelled a Canadian and US follower of the movement on Tuesday, a day after they protested in Tiananmen Square.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2002/0214/breaking14.htm

Online.ie: Tiananmen Square protesters detained

14 Feb 2002 More than 40 people have been detained after demonstrating in Tiananmen Square.

They were foreign members of the outlawed Falun Gong group.

New York-based Falun Gong activists say between 50 and 100 members from Western countries had planned to demonstrate in the Chinese capital.

The group says another 14 Western followers were detained by police in their hotels ahead of the protest.

The demonstration forced police briefly to clear tourists from the centre of the square.

At least three police mini-buses and several squad cars were seen picking up protesters as they appeared from a crowd gathered for Chinese New Year holidays.

[...]

Security was extremely tight even before the protest. Westerners approaching the square were asked to show identification. Foreign journalists were turned away or physically held.

At least seven foreign reporters were also taken to a police station and questioned.

It was the fourth and largest protest in Tiananmen Square by foreign followers of the group.

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