CNN: China detains 40 Western Falun Gong activists

February 14, 2002

BEIJING, China -- Chinese authorities have detained about 40 Western members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement after a brief protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Witnesses said the demonstrators threw the square into chaos for about 15 minutes as they unfurled a yellow banner and shouted slogans "Falun Gong is good!"

The demonstrators, whose nationality has not been confirmed, were demonstrating against the Chinese government's [persecution] movement.

Bejing has banned the group [...] although it remains legal in the autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

[...].

The agency says it is highly unusual for Chinese police to issue a statement following a protest and may be a sign they are trying to limit damage before next week's visit to Beijing by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Witnesses to Thursday's brief protest reported seeing demonstrators dash across the vast plaza of Tiananmen Square screaming slogans as hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police officers chased after them.

Police also tackled some protesters to the ground, kicking and punching some, before wrestling them into police vans.

Chinese tourists sightseeing in Beijing for the Lunar New Year holidays crowded round to watch the incident -- the second demonstration this week by Western Falun Gong members in Tiananmen Square.

On Tuesday, China expelled Canadian Jason Loftus and American Levi Browde after they launched a Lunar New Year protest in the square.

[...].

http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/14/china.falungong/index.html