MELBOURNE, March 7 AAP|Published: Thursday March 7, 2002

Four Australian members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have been arrested in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a spokesman for the organisation said today.

The four Melburnians were arrested about 1pm (AEDT) after staging a peaceful protest in the square, Falun Gong spokeswoman Kati Vereshaka told AAP.

She said they were part of a party of six from Melbourne, some of whom were visiting China for the first time.

Ms Vereshaka said she feared for the safety of those arrested.

"Everywhere they (Chinese officials) have arrested Westerners, they have become more and more brutal and more and more violent," she said.

According to reports, the protesters briefly raised a banner on the square before plain clothes and uniformed police wrestled it from them and bundled them into a van.

The protest took place directly in front of a famous portrait of Mao Zedong which marks the spot where he declared the People's Republic and is regarded as the spiritual heart of the communist regime.

It was also just 200 metres away from where deputies from all over China are meeting for the annual session of the National People's Congress.

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Falun Gong maintains it is merely a group promoting a system of personal development, peace and harmony through the virtues of "truth, compassion and forbearance".

Last November, four Australians were among dozens of foreigners arrested in Tiananmen Square because they were practitioners of Falun Gong.

They were later expelled from China.

http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2002/03/07/FFXAZ1QFHYC.html