February 19, 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to raise with China the reported abuse of Americans expelled for protesting a ban on Falun Gong spiritualism, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, casting a shadow over Thursday's visit to the communist giant by President Bush.

"We've now had a chance to talk with these people and I expect we will be raising concerns with the Chinese, based on things that we were told," the State Department official said on condition of anonymity.

He was speaking shortly after the 37 U.S. citizens he said were detained between Feb. 11 and Feb. 14 recounted their stories to a group of State Department officials in Washington.

He did not describe the reports of abuse that he said helped prompt the meeting but added, "We do plan to protest strongly any abuse of American citizens."

The United States had already expressed concerns about access to the detainees, only one of whom was seen by a U.S. consular officer before the deportations, the official said.

[...] They had unfurled yellow banners and shouted slogans to highlight China's campaign against the movement. At least 14 others were picked up ahead of the protest, a Falun Gong spokeswoman said in New York.

It was the latest in a string of demonstrations by foreign members of Falun Gong, who have taken up the cause as protests by Chinese members dwindled amid an intense security and propaganda campaign during the past two years.

The square erupted briefly into chaos as hundreds of police chased Western protesters and loaded them into police vans.

A list of protesters released by the group in the United States included two from Poland, one from New Zealand, two from Romania, two from Sweden, four from Britain and one from Brazil.

Western embassy officials said seven German and five Canadian nationals had been involved. Four British members of the movement were deported on Thursday.

Falun Gong says more than 1,600 followers have died as a result of abuse in police custody or detention centers.

[...]http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=politicsnews&StoryID=611123