March 17, 2003 Monday

DATELINE: GENEVA, March 17

More than a thousand members of the banned Chinese Falun Gong spiritual movement on Monday staged a protest here against repression in China, as delegates opened the annual session of the UN's top human rights forum. The followers, who according to one member came from 50 countries, staged a silent sit-down protest in front of the UN's European headquarters.

Local police kept a discreet eye on the event but made no attempt to prevent the protest, despite a ban on demonstrations in Geneva declared for the first day of the UN Human Rights Commission.

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