Pro-Falungong Demo in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM, Jul 21, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Some 50 supporters of the Falungong movement, banned in China just less than a year ago, held a demonstration late Thursday in the center of Stockholm, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

Lilly Wang, spokeswoman for the Nordic Falungong society, said: "We have met to present publicly our movement and to draw attention to the Chinese authorities' schemes against members of our movement.

"I lived through the Cultural Revolution and the democracy movements and I know that the Chinese regime currently in power is not telling the truth," Wang said.

Hounding of Falungong members had been stepped up, she said, adding: "I have trouble contacting friends in China who practice Falungong as many are in prison, or the Chinese authorities make sure that the members can't be contacted."

Originally "the Chinese authorities backed the Falungong movement, whose aim is to improve people morally and physically, but the Chinese authorities felt threatened when the number of people attached to the movement grew," Wang said.

The Swedish branch says Falungong has 100 million members in China, while Beijing puts the total at two million.

The first anniversary of the ban falls on Saturday. Chinese authorities first questioned more than 100 Falungong members in June and began rounding them up on July 20.