February 22, 2002

www.CNSNews.com - Washington (CNSNews.com) - American practitioners of the Chinese spiritual exercise known as Falun Gong say they were beaten by Chinese police during a February trip to Beijing.

Falun Gong, which has been banned in China since July 1999, has 70 million practitioners inside China, according to the New York City-based Falun Dafa Information Center.

Scott Chinn, who serves as vice-president of the Information Center, said he was detained near Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

"I was tackled by four police who then dragged me down the subway ramp. They then dragged me back up onto the square towards a police van. I was being choked by one of the police to the point of passing out and my left arm was being forced behind my back to the point that I thought it was going to break," Chinn said.

"My wife was dragged by her hair, lifted up by three police and then thrown to the ground and knocked unconscious," Chinn added.

The detainees also included Canadians, Europeans, Australians and Japanese, who were interrogated while in the custody of Chinese police.

Erping Zhang, a Falun Gong spokesman in the United States, said there was no reason for the arrests and beatings.

"Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese practice of mind and body. It is founded on the principles of truth, compassion, forbearance," Zhang said.

"Falun Gong is apolitical and practiced on a voluntary basis," he continued, explaining that it costs nothing to participate in Falun Gong and the leaders of the practice accept no donations.

The Chinese government banned Falun Gong, the Falun Dafa Information Center asserts, "because the number of Falun Gong practitioners are greater than Communist Party members."

After 22 hours of detention at the hands of Chinese officials, Chinn said he and his wife were never allowed to contact the U.S. Embassy and were finally "thrown onto a Northwest flight to Detroit." Their valuables, totaling about $2,000, were also confiscated by Chinese authorities, Chinn said.

Brian Marple, a first-year student at Georgetown University, was also among the Americans detained.

Mentioning Falun Gong in China is illegal but it did not deter Marple from holding up a banner declaring his allegiance to Falun Gong.

"I strolled around the [Tiananmen] square for a few minutes, then held up my banner and shouted to anyone who could hear it, 'Falun Dafa Hao!'" (Falun Dafa is good)

Marple's comments drew the attention of several Chinese police officers who arrested and "shoved" Marple into a police van. "There were five of us practitioners there, all singing a song called 'Falun Dafa Hao' as loudly and beautifully as we could," Marple said.

After being moved to a Chinese hotel that had been transformed into a detention center, Marple said he was assaulted several times by authorities. Marple said a Chinese police officer "slapped me hard in the face multiple times. When a nearby elevator opened, he kicked me in the back, shoving me into the elevator with his foot."

Marple said he was struck in the face and had his head slammed into the wall of the elevator. He was then questioned "for about five to six hours," before being ushered to the airport where he was deported along with other American Falun Gong practitioners.

Zhang said all Western practitioners of Falun Gong who were arrested and detained have been released. However, Zhang said they "are calling on President Bush to demand the release of the six Tsinghua students and all other students and faculty there wrongfully imprisoned for Falun Gong. It must be made clear to Beijing that the war on terrorism cannot be used to justify state-terrorism against its own citizens," he said.