February 16, 2002

PASADENA -- A 28-year-old Pasadena woman was arrested this week in Tiananmen Square in Beijing for demonstrating in support of the Falun Gong worldwide spiritual movement.

Gina Sanchez, along with more than 40 Western followers of Falun Gong, was arrested Thursday at about 2 p.m., Beijing time, she said by telephone Friday. She was held about 24 hours and released, her father said.

The protest, the biggest yet at Tiananmen Square by foreign Falun Gong followers, was aimed at a Chinese government crackdown on the group.

"I won't stop until the persecution ends," Sanchez wrote in a statement before the protest. "That is why I have gone to Beijing to appeal. Some people might consider this an extreme action. However, I consider it extreme to sit back and do nothing while innocent people are being killed and tortured."

Falun Gong is a spiritual movement combining meditation and exercise, espousing the virtues of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, followers say.

[...] Since July 1999, followers say, practitioners have been arrested, beaten and tortured by the Chinese government. They also claim hundreds of people have been killed by Chinese authorities.

Tiananmen Square was the site of a massacre of pro-democracy protesters by the Chinese government in 1989; many Falun Gong supporters have staged demonstrations there and been arrested.

The Associated Press reported that, in contrast to previous Falun Gong protests, authorities seemed prepared for Thursday's event.

Checkpoints were set up around Tiananmen Square and foreigners were forced to show identification and open their bags for inspection, according to AP. Foreign reporters were turned away or held near the square, preventing them from clearly seeing what happened.

The demonstration didn't get very far, according to Sanchez.

"All I did was hold my hand in the air -- it's just a very mild gesture, it's an exercise ... a half prayer position -- and I just said, 'Falun Dafa hao,"' meaning "Falun Dafa is good," Sanchez said. Falun Gong is also referred to as Falun Dafa.

"Within seconds, police were right at my back. They held my arm ... and they were shoving me toward the police van," she said. "One guy just reached into his pocket to pull out a banner ... but within six inches of pulling it out, he was tackled and beaten."

While she wasn't hurt, she said the vast majority of people were "beaten or manhandled."

A diplomatic official with the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles could not be reached for comment Friday.

A Falun Gong-issued statement said residents of more than 15 countries participated. AP reported that the group included residents of Great Britain and Germany.

After Sanchez and some others were released, they were put on a plane to Detroit. She was scheduled to fly home to Los Angeles on Friday evening.

Sanchez and her father, Dan Sanchez, visited a Pasadena City Council meeting in December to protest the Chinese government's alleged abuse of practitioners, and asked the city to formally condemn the Chinese government.

The pair believe Pasadena should condemn the crackdown because the city has an official "sister city" relationship with Xicheng, China, also known as West District, Beijing.

The city's Human Relations Commission likely will endorse the idea of a condemnation, according to Chairman Nat Nehdar.