(Dagens Nyheter 21/11) Swedish Falun Gong Practitioners Expelled from China

Thirty five Falun Gong practioners from ten countries, including seven Swedes, were arrested by the Chinese police after holding a demonstration on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. They reported being assaulted by the police. After unfurling a banner which read "Falun Gong is good," they were immediatedly hauled away as amazed Chinese tourists followed the course of events.

Swedish demonstrator Roland Odar succeeded in getting out a message on his cell-phone from the police station. "In the police van I was brutally punched, kicked, and stomped on. My arm is bleeding. The women were dragged by their hair," he told the TT news agency.

Another practitioner who was captured, Pirjo Svensson, said: "We are not against the government. We believe in living with tolerance and kindness."

The demonstration by the Western Falun Gong practioners was held to protest the unrelenting persecution that the Chinese government is directing towards the domestic practitioners of the meditation group.

On Falun Gong's Information Center, [Sweden] Anders Eriksson stated that he knew the demonstration would take place in Beijing. He said the demonstraters wanted to focus attention on the persecution of the practioners of Falun Gong in China.

G ran Leijonhufvud

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(Svenska Dagbladet 21/11) China Expels Six Swedes

Along with 26 other Westerners, the Swedish Falun Gong practitioners had come together in Beijing to protest the excess violence that is being directed against the many millions of Chinese people that practice the banned meditation practice. The demonstration lasted only a few minutes, as very soon after they unfurled a banner, they were set upon by the police.

The wife of Torbj rn Nordstrand, Malin, participated in an information meeting in Stockholm yesterday afternoon. She said:

"Of course Torbj rn runs a risk but he felt so strongly about going to appeal to Jiang Zemin to stop the persecution," she said.

"If you worry about the risks, you have already given up to the evil in the world."

Erik Sidenbladh