Sydney Morning Herald: Falun Gong members tell of Beijing ordeal

Melbourne members of the Falun Gong group who were expelled from China yesterday were kicked, punched and manhandled after being arrested for demonstrating in Tiananmen Square.

Michael Molnar, 29, described in Melbourne today shortly after arriving back in Australia, how police punched and kicked him as they tried to drag him from a bus.

Members of the group from Sydney and Melbourne were arrested in Tiananmen Square on Thursday, shortly after they unfurled a banner in support of the movement

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It was the fifth protest since November on or near Tiananmen Square in central Beijing by foreign members of Falun Gong[...]

Mr Molnar said the violence broke out after the group was taken to a police station and when they were taken back to their hotel in a bus.

The group's members refused to be separated, which angered the police and he was singled out to be forced from the vehicle.

He said he was pulled off balance and dragged to the front of the bus, where he was punched in the face and battered repeatedly.

"It felt an avalanche of punches and kicks," he said.

One kick square in the middle of his chest hurtled him out of the bus.

"As I was falling I could still feel kicks. On the ground I could feel more blows coming from the left-hand side and to the rib cage."

Mr Molnar said he still felt sore but his ordeal was mild compared with reports of group members being beaten to death.

David Rubacek, 24, said in Sydney today how during a six-hour interrogation in a hotel room he was beaten by one Beijing police officer.

He said despite being arrested, bashed and deported, he still believed the trip was a success and he would continue to campaign for freedom for other Falun Gong believers in China.

Australian swimmer and 1964 Tokyo Olympics competitor Jan Becker defended her decision to join the protest in Beijing, despite the risks.

"We're not going against the (Chinese) constitution - I read the constitution before I went," she said in Melbourne.

She said she was strip-searched by police after being arrested along with nine others in Tiananmen Square but was otherwise not mistreated.

Ms Becker said she believed the Chinese authorities were fearful of the popularity of the Falun Gong movement.

Before the official crackdown in 1999, when the group was outlawed, Falun Gong had more members in China than the communist party, she said.

Since then thousands of the group's members have been detained, and Falun Gong supporters abroad contend that more than 350 have been killed.

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