AFP: Western Falun Gong supporters arrested after NPC protest

2002-03-06 BEIJING, March 7 (AFP) - At least four western followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group were arrested Thursday after a brief protest on Tiananmen Square timed to coincide with the annual session of China's parliament.

The protestors -- who were Australian, the group said -- briefly raised a banner on the square before plain clothes and uniformed police wrestled it from them and bundled them into a van, an AFP reporter saw.

The demonstration 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.

Police appeared not to expect a protest under the huge portrait, on Tiananmen Gate at the entrance to the former royal palace, or at Forbidden City to the north of the square.

After the police pulled down the banner, the demonstrators continued chanting for a few minutes before the police van was brought and they were taken away.

[...] Falun Gong [...] has repeatedly demonstrated on Tiananmen Square against its repression by the Chinese government.

[...] Last month an estimated 59 western followers demonstrated.

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of Falun Gong followers have been sentenced to jail terms and tens of thousands sent to labour camps under the ban. The movement says as many as 300 followers have died from brutality in police detention.

On Monday the US State Department's annual global human rights report contained scathing criticism of China's [persecution] on the group, saying "scores" of Falun Gong adherents died in police custody during 2001.

The report also cited "reliable" reports saying local officials from a city in the eastern province of Shandong "were responsible for beating to death Falun Gong adherents at the rate of about one per month".

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