WASHINGTON, April 1 (AFP) - China shows few signs of abandoning its harsh policies against the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, [...] the US government said.

In its annual human rights report, the State Department detailed the severe methods adopted against the group [...].

"Police often used excessive force when detaining peaceful Falun Gong protesters, including some who were elderly or who were accompanied by small children," the report said.

"During the year, there were numerous credible reports of abuse and even killings of ... practitioners by the police and other security personnel."

The Falun Gong movement, which previously claimed millions of followers in China, was banned [...] in 1999 and has been the target of a relentless campaign since then.

Over the past four years "thousands of practitioners were incarcerated in prisons, extrajudicial reeducation-through-labor camps, psychiatric facilities or special deprogramming centers," the report said.

Police were involved in "beatings, detention under extremely harsh conditions, and torture (including by electric shock and by having hands and feet shackled and linked with crossed steel chains)," it said.

[...]

However, Falun Gong followers are not safe from government persecution even if they refrain from participating in any demonstrations, according to the report.

"Mere belief in the discipline, without any outward manifestation of its tenets, has been sufficient grounds for practitioners to receive punishments ranging from loss of employment to imprisonment, and in many cases, to suffer torture and death," it said.