(Filed: 15/02/2002)

AN 18-year-old schoolboy from Leeds was missing in Beijing last night after about 40 European members of the Falun Gong sect were detained in Tiananmen Square.

Alexander Rostron, who is in his final year of A-levels at Leeds Grammar School, is believed to have been among those held but the Chinese authorities have not acknowledged that he is in custody and have not identified him.

The mass arrests brought chaos and violence to the square, which was packed with thousands of tourists celebrating the Chinese New Year.

The protesters were believed to have included Mr Rostron, who has practised the Falun Gong's mystic healing exercises for two years.

The mostly young demonstrators suddenly produced yellow banners from under their clothes and shouted "Falun Dafa is good", using the formal name for the group, [...]

It was the third successive day of arrests of foreign Falun Gong followers, and security was tight across central Beijing. A further 14 to 20 foreign practitioners - who apparently intended to join the protests in Tiananmen Square - were seized from their hotels on Wednesday.

Four of those taken away were British citizens, who were deported on a London-bound flight yesterday. Mr Rostron had left Britain for Beijing saying he planned to protest against the Chinese government's campaign to eradicate Falun Gong.

[...]

The British embassy in Beijing said consular officials were in contact with Chinese authorities, but were unable to confirm Mr Rostron's whereabouts.

[...]

Peter Jauhal, chairman of the European Falun Dafa Association, said the mass protests were planned by grassroots activists, who believed their foreign passports would protect them from Chinese police brutality.

Yesterday's police action was rough, but noticeably less savage than the treatment meted out to Chinese who protest in Tiananmen Square, the sacred heart of Chinese communism and scene of the 1989 massacre of students and pro-democracy activists.

Hundreds of police and plainclothes security agents sprinted back and forth across the giant square, pursuing each successive group of demonstrators.

Protesters were variously forced to the ground, dragged or carried to police vans and cars which roared on to the heavily guarded square. Some who resisted passively were beaten, punched and kicked.

The beatings were seen to continue inside some police vans, until police lowered grey blinds over the windows and officers forced foreign reporters from the scene.

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