November 21, 2001

BEIJING -- Foreign practitioners of Falun Gong briefly meditated and unfurled banners in Beijing's Tiananmen Square before being detained -- and ordered expelled -- for staging the largest protest in months against China's suppression of the group. Acting at first like typical tourists at one of Beijing's most visited attractions, the 35 foreigners from the U.S., Britain, Germany and seven other countries posed for group photographs Tuesday afternoon. They then suddenly shifted position; those seated crossed their legs in meditation while those standing raised a shimmering gold banner with Falun Gong's credo -- "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" -- printed in red in English and Chinese.

Uniformed and plainclothes police, whose numbers at the square have dwindled in recent months as once-frequent protests by Falun Gong have ebbed, reacted quickly. Within a minute, the banner was pulled down, and dozens of officers struggled to lift the passively resisting protesters into vans. One protester in a white T-shirt emblazoned with the Canadian flag broke free, running, holding a banner and shouting that Falun Gong "is good. The whole world knows it." A plainclothes officer brought him down with a flying kick to the stomach -- an act of violence that contrasted with the mostly careful, if forceful, treatment police used on the other demonstrators.

Despite the protesters' boldness and careful planning, the demonstration highlighted the desperate situation of Falun Gong two and a half years after being banned by the Chinese government. Under a suppression campaign that Falun Gong activists overseas say has led to more than 300 deaths, many Chinese practitioners have gone into hiding, been put under close surveillance at home or been sent to labor camps where police force them to recant their beliefs. The foreign protesters who began trickling into Beijing last Thursday said they didn't contact any local followers. "They're under extreme pressure," said one protester, an American who asked that his name be withheld.

The American and a compatriot said in an interview before the protest that they hoped to speak for the "millions of people who have no way of letting their voice be heard." A statement issued by New York-based activists on behalf of the demonstrators demanded that China abolish the special multiagency task force overseeing the suppression, release all detained practitioners and allow Falun Gong to be practiced legally and freely. Chinese officials and police didn't respond to queries about the protest. But state-run television reported that the 35 foreigners had violated the laws that banned Falun Gong as a [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted] and would be expelled from China.