Filed at 8:39 a.m. EDT June 26, 2000

By The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) -- Falun Gong followers have stepped up public demonstrations of their banned sect's practices, drawing more than 1,200 arrests in one week, a rights group reported Monday.

On June 18, 300 followers practiced their slow-motion exercises in a park in the southeastern city of Guangzhou, and in the seven days following, Beijing and the northeastern provincial capital of Harbin each reported gatherings of 100 people, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported.

Arrests were reported in nine Chinese provinces and cities, the center said. The center's report could not be independently verified.

Belief in Falun Gong, much less openly practicing it, has been outlawed since the communist government banned the group 11 months ago. The Chinese government considers the group a threat to public well-being and to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.

Tens of thousands of Falun Gong followers have been ordered to recant and thousands have been sent to labor camps. But group followers still stage periodic demonstrations.

One of those arrested during a Beijing demonstration Thursday, Beijing University of Industrial and Commercial Management professor Zhao Xin, has been hospitalized after an apparent beating by police, the Information Center said.

The government has denied that any Falun Gong practitioners have been mistreated, although the group estimates that more than 20 followers have died in custody.