AFP: China Tightens Security on Tiananmen Before Falun Gong Anniversary

BEIJING, Apr 24, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Police tightened security on Tiananmen Square in Beijing Tuesday to prevent protests by the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual group on the eve of a key anniversary. Plainclothes police and uniformed soldiers were out in force on the square in the city center scanning for potential protests ahead of Wednesday's anniversary. Police were seen ordering one woman into a police van after questioning her and two others were also seen being detained. Groups of peasant-like women -- who fit the typical image of Falun Gong protestors -- were stopped and asked to show their identification. Soldiers also patrolled the streets near the square, which has been the scene of numerous large demonstrations by Falun Gong members since the group was banned as an "[Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]" in July 1999. [...] Two years ago on April 25, 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners surrounded the Chinese leadership's Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing to protest against the arrests of some members. The event stunned the government, which banned the group three months later. The government now considers Falun Gong the biggest threat to social stability since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations and has carried out a relentless two-year crackdown to crush the group. It is common for Falun Gong followers to turn up en masse in the square on key anniversaries, with police detaining more than 1,000 protestors on New Year's Day. [...] Kan Hung-cheung, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for the group, said many Falun Gong members were now using different tactics to protest dissatisfaction with the ban. Practitioners are stuffing leaflets into mailboxes at housing compounds and putting up posters at night to get their message across, he said. "Our goal is to let as many people as possible know the truth about Falun Gong, not to have so many people arrested," Kan said. Since the ban, 10,000 Falun Gong members have been sent to re-education through labor camps, 600 to prison terms of up to 18 years and many more remain in temporary detention, Lu said.

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