06/26/2000
Agence France-Presse

HONG KONG, June 26 (AFP) - Chinese police detained at least 1,200 members of the banned Falungong spiritual movement after a series of protests around the country last week, a rights groups said Monday.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy also alleged that a Beijing university professor and Falungong member named Zhao Xin was left paralysed after being tortured by police following her arrest.

The Hong Kong-based rights group said the 1,200 were detained between June 18 and June 25 during protests and public demonstrations by the Falungong in nine provinces.

It said more than 100 people were detained in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sunday. A witness told he saw a group of five people unfurl a Falungong banner in the square.

A statement from the centre said 100 practitioners were detained in the northeastern city of Harbin on June 24 after practising Falungong in a park, and that 300 Falungong were picked up in a park in the southern city of Guangzhou on June 18.

It said 32-year-old Zhao, a teacher at Beijing Industry and Business Administration University, was detained on June 19 while practising Falungong in a park in Beijing.

The statement said she was detained at Qinghe detention centre in the Chinese capital where she suffered serious injuries to her cervical vertebra during torture which left her paralysed.

Zhao's father, who asked for his name not to be used, said she had gone on hunger strike after her arrest and police had force-fed her.

He said he was informed of the events on June 24 by her university who had been told by police Zhao had bumped her head against a wall.

He said she was unconscious in Haidian hospital and that she could only blink her eyes. Her family is allowed to see her but is prevented from sitting with her or touching her by hospital security guards.

Falungong is a traditional Chinese mystic belief based on the teachings of exiled master Li Hongzhi, who advocates Confucian and Buddhist moral values and group breathing and meditation exercises.

The Chinese government banned the movement in July last year after labelling it an "evil cult". Tens of thousands of practitioners have since been detained and core leaders given jail terms of up to 18 years.

(Copyright 2000)