A Chinese policeman checks identification papers and inspects bags in Beijing's Tiananmen Square
VIDEO CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon shows the latest actions by China and Falun Gong (July 23) Windows Media 28K 80K  MESSAGE BOARD: China Tomorrow

July 23, 1999
Web posted at: 2:33 p.m. EDT (1833 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

BEIJING (CNN) -- About 200 members of China's Falun Gong movement were detained by police Friday after staging a protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square against a nationwide ban on the group. Authorities temporarily cordoned off the square.

Police have rounded up thousands of members of the quasi-religious group across the country, placing notices of its ban on the organization in the parks where its members usually gather. Government spokesmen compared the group's leaders to criminals even as those leaders urged Chinese authorities to stop persecuting their followers.

China banned the sect on Thursday, saying it was an illegal organization that cheated people and threatened social chaos. People practicing in public or disseminating the sect's books would be jailed, state media said.

"A few members of the Falun are not like the majority of the members," said Li Baoku, China's vice minister of civil affairs. "Their purpose is to cheat people, disturb the peace and spread heresy.

"It is forbidden, and these people will be punished according to the law," Li said.

China claims some members have died after refusing medical treatment or have gone insane after following the practice, sometimes killing family members.

The movement is centered around a group of five physical exercises and claims to be "a powerful mechanism for healing, stress relief and health improvements." Falun Gong followers in the United States say key members around China have been arrested and some of their homes ransacked.

From his home in New York, Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi urged Chinese authorities to relax their ban on the group, which he says has 100 million adherents.

"What I am doing is teaching people to be kind and benevolent," Li said in May, in an interview excerpted on the group's Web site. "It is not politically motivated. I have never interfered with state laws and decrees, nor have I been involved in politics."

But analysts said China's leadership risked creating a self- fulfilling prophecy with its heavy-handed attack on the group.

"This risks really politicizing what is essentially an apolitical movement and creating a whole new community that doesn't like the Communist Party," one Western diplomat said.

Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon and Reuters contributed to this report.

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