Washington Post: China Arrests 35 Foreigners in Falun Gong Crackdown

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

BEIJING, Nov. 20 - Chinese police detained about 35 foreigners who unfurled a banner in Tiananmen Square today to protest the government's violent crackdown on the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. Police repeatedly kicked and hit at least one protester after forcing him into a van.

The demonstrators, including Americans, Europeans, Australians and others, posed as tourists milling about the square before coming together and chanting a Falun Gong mantra. Some held up a large yellow banner emblazoned with the words "Truth, Benevolence, Forbearance," the Falun Gong slogan, while others sat in the lotus position, shut their eyes and pressed their hands together as if in prayer.

Despite frequent international criticism of China's human rights record, foreigners rarely attempt to stage protests on Chinese soil, much less in Tiananmen, the political heart of the Chinese nation. Similar protests by Chinese members of Falun Gong occurred on almost a daily basis less than a year ago, but a state campaign of torture and intimidation has made such demonstrations increasingly uncommon.

Seconds after the foreigners converged, police vans surrounded the group, and officers began forcing them on board, dragging several of them along the pavement and roughly lifting others off the ground. Three officers chased and tackled one demonstrator who broke free and ran toward a crowd of Chinese onlookers while shouting, "Falun Gong is good!"

At least one police officer punched a protester repeatedly in his back as he forced him onto a van and could be seen continuing to pummel and kick him before the van drove away.

But police used less force than they have against Chinese members [...], refraining from drawing their batons, for example.

China outlawed Falun Gong as an "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]" in 1999 after thousands of adherents stunned the leadership with a mass protest outside [party's name omitted] headquarters. [...]. Falun Gong says more than 50,000 believers have been sent to prisons, labor camps and mental hospitals, and about 300 have died in custody.

"We are here to appeal on behalf of tens of thousands of innocent people who suffer imprisonment, torture or even death at the hands of their own government in China," said a statement from the protesters issued by U.S.-based Falun Gong organizers. "And we are here to appeal to China's leaders and to seek an end to the violence and terror they have waged against Falun Gong for two and a half years."

China's state-run media said the protesters had been ordered to leave the country, but it was not known if they remained in police custody tonight.

"The relevant departments have given the 35 foreigners who broke Chinese law a warning for disrupting public order, and have dealt with them according to the law by ordering them to leave the country by a specified time," state radio said.

It was unclear what impact, if any, the protest might have on the Chinese public, which has largely turned against Falun Gong since five purported members set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square in January. The government has tried to cast Falun Gong as an organization with ties to China's enemies in the West, and it could use the protest to drive home that point.

Some Chinese bystanders in Tiananmen today shouted, "Hit them!" as police hauled away the protesters. Others expressed bewilderment. "Foreigners believe in Falun Gong too?" one asked.

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