From Conor O'Clery, in Beijing

CHINA: In a society where fear stifles dissent, the one thing the authorities cannot cope with is a movement made up of peaceful dissenters who have no fear.

The evidence for this could be seen during the last two days in Tiananmen Square, where waves of middle-aged and elderly members of Falun Gong defied a ban on their organisation by the Chinese government, offering themselves up as martyrs to security police who sometimes beat and kicked them, and hauled them off to detention centres.

But still they kept coming all day long, reminding the Chinese government that "they haven't gone away, you know", despite being prohibited [...] exactly a year ago.

Almost every day since then, small numbers of Falun Gong adherents from all over China have demonstrated in Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of the nation, but to mark the first anniversary of their banning, several hundred turned up on Thursday and yesterday. Despite deploying around the vast piazza in large numbers, the security police and soldiers cannot stop them.

Tiananmen Square is a Mecca for Chinese and foreign tourists - to close it would be a massive defeat for the government - and Falun Gong members are indistinguishable from ordinary sightseers. They wander on to the square and gather in small groups, then announce their presence by doing distinctive exercises with arms stretched upwards, or by unfurling banners or scattering leaflets in the air. Immediately the police pounce, running back and forth under the direction of plain-clothes security officials who themselves pose as tourists.

Yesterday, when an elderly man shouted "Falun Gong is good", seven plain-clothes officers threw him down on to the hard flagstones and punched and kicked him, then carried him bodily to a police vehicle.

Journalists and tourists have witnessed dozens of such incidents over the last two days, during which an estimated 500 followers of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, were taken into custody. Security men lashed out with boots and fists at two young men who tried to unfurl a yellow banner.

A slogan was ripped from three elderly women by police who pulled one by the hair and punched another as they were forced into a police van which sped away with horn blaring. A man was led away bleeding from the mouth after being thumped. Another who tried to display a sign was bowled over and kicked in the chest, then punched repeatedly in the arms to make him let go of the banner. Police seized a camera from a Western visitor and ripped out the film.

There is no accurate record of what happened to the detainees, but from past experience most are released within hours and others sent to labour camps or reeducation centres.

The incidents - the most sustained protests against the communist government since the 1989 student movement - are never reported in the media, but everyone in Beijing knows that to walk near the square now is to risk being stopped and forced to produce papers by security police. Many people have been seen remonstrating with the police.

Falun Gong is a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism and traditional Chinese breathing exercises. Its exiled leader, Li Hongzhi, lives in New York. The organisation was banned after 15,000 members demonstrated outside Jongnanhai government compound in Beijing last year against ill-treatment of its members.

It has since been accused of [...]

Two members of Falun Gong, Qi Fengqin (43) and Zong Hengjie (34), died in police custody over the past month because of violent treatment, according to the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong. The group claims that 59 have died in custody since the government crackdown on the sect began in July 1999.

The government acknowledges that several have died but says most committed suicide or died of natural causes. Ominously for the authorities, there are reports of protests outside Beijing. The Hong Kong group said yesterday that in Changchun in Jilin province, 100 Falun Gong adherents have been on a protest hunger strike for five days.

The protests are expected to continue today and Monday.