China Falun Gong Arrests Continue

Saturday July 22 12:19 PM ET

A plainclothes police officer hauls away a Falun Gong protester in Tiananmen Square in Beijing Saturday, July 22, 2000. Falun Gong followers have streamed into Beijing this month from around China to renew their civil disobedience campaign. (AP Photo/Chien-min Chung)

BEIJING (AP) - Hustling peaceful protesters into vans, Chinese police cracked down Saturday on Falun Gong members who marked the first anniversary of the banning of their meditation group with banners and brief displays of civil disobedience.

One plainclothes policeman dragged away a woman by the ankles as an officer in a green uniform gripped a clump of her hair in crowded Tiananmen Square, one of China's most famous tourist sites and a popular venue for Falun Gong protests.

In past demonstrations, the group has been able to mobilize large numbers of protesters, and there was anticipation that the sect would orchestrate a big turnout Saturday to defiantly mark the one-year ban.

But most of the scattered protests Saturday involved individuals or small groups unfurling banners or sitting down in the square cross-legged in the lotus posture. About 100 people were rounded up during the morning, the most popular time for the group to protest.

The largest group involved about 25 people who successfully blocked police from immediately seizing their banner. Police eventually broke up the protesters.

Founded eight years ago, Falun Gong attracted millions of followers, drawn by its blend of slow-motion exercises and ideas drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and the group's exiled leader, Li Hongzhi, a former government grain clerk. Followers say practice promotes health, moral living and, in experts, supernatural powers.

But the government has called Falun Gong an unprecedented threat to communist rule. It has accused Falun Gong of cheating followers and causing 1,500 deaths, mostly of followers who it said refused medical treatment according to what it claims are the group's teachings.

Equipped with binoculars and walkie-talkies, legions of police patrolling Tiananmen Square often swoop down on protesters seconds after they whip out a banner or begin meditating. Within minutes, protesters are stuffed into police vans stationed on the margins of the square.

Blistering hot weather made the job difficult for the police Saturday because their views were obstructed by hundreds of visitors carrying umbrellas, which Chinese use to block the sun.

Still, they managed aggressively to nab the protesters and disperse crowds of tourists who stopped to gawk.

After plainclothes police grabbed one man who was sitting cross-legged, they took a camera away from a foreign tourist who was taking pictures in the area. They took the film out of the camera and exposed it to daylight, ruining the photos. The police then walked away, ignoring the tourist's protests.

On the northwest corner of the square, a pair of women held up a yellow banner with one of the sect's names, ``Falun Dafa,'' in red Chinese characters.

The banner was up for about 20 seconds - an eternity compared to most protests - before police grabbed the women by their arms and snatched away the banner.

One middle-aged woman walking by with her family spotted the banner and yelled ``Arrest them!''

Since the government banned the sect one year ago, police have been detaining members and state-run media have been denouncing the group in a fierce smear campaign.

Several newspapers on Saturday ran a commentary by the official Xinhua News Agency that said Falun Gong is a ``poisonous torrent'' that is ``anti-humanity'' and ``anarchistic.''

Xinhua said Li, the exiled leader, has encouraged followers to break the law and demonstrate, resulting in a recent increase in illegal gatherings at Tiananmen Square.