BEIJING -- China yesterday accused the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement of trying to bring down the government and of colluding with the Communist regime's opponents.
The lengthy, acidly worded critique by the state-run Xinhua news agency signaled the government's anger and frustration that its 14-month crackdown on Falun Gong and the arrests of thousands of adherents have failed to crush the group.
Xinhua labeled Falun Gong "reactionary," a politically charged term used in China to tar the government's opponents. It accused the group of joining forces with pro-democracy campaigners and supporters of independence for Taiwan, Tibet and China's unruly Muslim far west.
Falun Gong "openly opposes the party and government and has transformed completely from head to tail into a reactionary political organization with the goal of overthrowing the People's Republic of China and the socialist system," Xinhua said.
Falun Gong adherents deny that the group has political ambitions, maintaining that their beliefs -- an eclectic mix of Taoist and Buddhist cosmology and the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi -- promote health and morality. They have called for an end to China's crackdown and for legal recognition of the group as a school of "qigong," traditional Chinese health and meditation exercises from which Falun Gong is partly derived.
The government outlawed the group last year as a threat to Communist rule and a public menace. Government officials say Falun Gong cheats members and has caused 1,500 deaths, including suicides and murders by group followers.
Xinhua's attack, among the most vitriolic carried by the wholly state-run media in recent months, appeared to have been prompted by a dramatic protest by hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners on Tiananmen Square during China's Oct. 1 National Day celebrations.
Police detained roughly 350 followers, beating most as they forced them into vans. Adherents chanted slogans, unfurled banners and threw sheets of printed paper in the air, forcing the brief closure of much of the hallowed square in Beijing's heart.
Xinhua claimed that the demonstration provoked "great righteous indignation" among common Chinese, who have since "demanded that the government and judiciary severely punish the troublemakers."
It did not say whether punishments have been or will be handed down to those detained. But it said "a considerable portion" of die-hard Falun Gong supporters "tend to be quite strongly anti-government, anti-society in their thinking" -- harsh language that could presage even tougher government action against the group.
Falun Gong adherents have protested almost daily since the movement was banned in July 1999. Xinhua did not say how many took part in the Oct. 1 demonstration but noted that some Falun Gong protests in Beijing and other cities since May have involved more than 100 followers.
Elsewhere yesterday, two Falun Gong adherents were arrested after filing a lawsuit in mainland China accusing President Jiang Zemin of carrying out the brutal crackdown, local followers in Hong Kong said.
The Falun Gong practitioners, Chu O-ming, 43, and Wang Jie, 37, sent their lawsuit through the mail on Aug. 29 to the Chinese court, according to a Falun Gong spokesman in Hong Kong.
Spokesman Kan Hung-cheung told a news conference that Mr. Chu, a Hong Kong businessman, and Mr. Wang, an editor with a survey and map publisher in Beijing, were arrested in the Chinese capital on Sept. 7. Mr. Kan said the two were being held at a Beijing jail.
Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong.
Two Falun Gong followers, including one from the SAR, have been arrested after attempting to sue President Jiang Zemin for cracking down on the banned sect.
Hong Kong businessman Chu O-ming, 43, and fellow member Wang Jie, 37, a mainlander, were arrested at a friend's home in Beijing on September 7. The friend was not arrested.
The incident occurred nine days after they filed a case with the Supreme People's Procuratorate in Beijing on August 29 against Mr Jiang, his top aide Zeng Qinghong, and Luo Gan, who heads the Central Commission of Political Science and Law of the Communist Party.
It is thought that the pair are being held in a police bureau in Beijing's Fangshan district.
The sect in Hong Kong has appealed to the SAR Government to rescue Mr Chu, who is a Hong Kong permanent resident and holds an SAR passport.
The Security Bureau replied last night that the Immigration Department was seeking information and would follow up the case with the mainland authorities.
It is the first time the sect has resorted to legal means to challenge the ban on the group and to sue the country's leader for compensation and a public apology. Mr Jiang and the other two officials were accused of violating the constitution and other civil and criminal laws. The sect claimed the crackdown on the religion was groundless and illegal.
Kan Hung-cheung, spokesman for Falun Gong's SAR branch, said the Hong Kong Government had a responsibility to protect its residents, adding that Beijing planned to escalate the crackdown in a bid to "completely destroy" the sect within three months.
Mr Kan claimed at least 56 sect members had been tortured to death since last October, and that an estimated 34 million arrests had been made in the first half of the year as some members were arrested repeatedly. The Hong Kong-based Centre for Human Rights and Democracy puts the number in the tens of thousands.
The spokesman said Falun Gong followers on the mainland had received "brutal treatment", including electric shock torture. The association estimates that about 500 mainland followers have been jailed, with some serving sentences of up to 18 years, and that 600 have been sent to psychiatric centres and 50,000 detained without trial.
But another spokesman for the association, Hui Kwok-hung, warned that the figures reflected only the "tip of the iceberg".
Mr Kan said Mr Chu's arrest remained secret until last week, and he was worried that the Hong Kong man would suffer the same brutal treatment. He said about 30 Hong Kong sect members had been arrested on the mainland, but all except Mr Chu had been released.
Mr Hui said: "There is no Chinese law requiring citizens to apply for permission to bend their waists and flex their legs [the gesture for practising the religion].
Guards in a northeast Chinese labor camp organized the beating to death of a follower of the banned Falungong spiritual group, relatives and Falungong sources charged Tuesday.
Wang Bin, 44, was severely beaten after he refused to write a confession retracting his belief in the group's teachings, a Falungong follower in Daqing city, Heilongjiang province told AFP.
Prison guards at the Dongfeng Reform Through Labor Camp in Daqing ordered other prisoners to beat Wang and two other Falungong followers after they refused to sign written retractions of their beliefs, she said.
Wang's beating was so severe he was finally sent to a local hospital where he died on October 6, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Relatives at Wang's home in Daqing confirmed that Wang had died, but refused to comment on the case, other than to say that Wang's wife had not returned home for several days.
After consultations with lawyers, Wang's family was seeking 500,000 yuan (60,000 dollars) in compensation for Wang's death, the Falungong follower said, but refused to link the case to the disappearance of Wang's wife.
The Dongfeng Reform Through Labor Camp already had an impressive record of getting Falungong followers to recant their beliefs, she said, a record that had been praised by Chinese leaders.
This summer China set up two labor camps to hold the hardened Falungong followers, in a further sign of the government's concern over the spiritual group, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said earlier.
Wang's death marked the 53rd documented Falungong death in police custody since the central government banned the group as an "illegal organization" and an "evil cult" in July 1999.
Members of the group who follow the Buddhist-inspired teachings of their exiled guru Li Hongzhi, believe the number of deaths could be far greater.
China's Communist government has called the group the biggest threat to its one party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.
Since the banning, some 450 members have received prison sentences of up to 18 years, more than 600 have been sent to mental hospitals, 10,000 have been placed in labor camps and another 20,000 locked up in temporary detention centers, the rights center said.
BEIJING - In an angry outburst after embarrassing anti-government protests on its National Day, China on Tuesday called the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement a ``reactionary political force'' that must be destroyed.
A commentary printed in major state newspapers accused the group of poisoning the atmosphere of the October 1 celebrations, when police detained hundreds of Falun Gong protesters on Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
``They have completely transformed themselves into an out and out reactionary political force,'' the commentary said. ``Its aim is to overturn the People's Republic of China and to subvert the socialist system.
``They cause trouble and they fail. They continue to cause trouble and they will continue to fail right until their destruction,'' it said.
``They cannot escape the destiny of their inevitable fall.''
Falun Gong, a combination of physical exercise with Daoist and Buddhist doctrines, has defied an intense crackdown and sustained media attacks with almost daily protests in Tiananmen Square since it was outlawed as an ``evil cult'' last year.
ALARMING PRECEDENT
Chinese media reports have accused the group repeatedly of deluding its members and causing 1,500 deaths and 600 cases of mental illness.
But the new tirade seems to reflect Beijing's growing concern that the group has set a political precedent with its relentless campaign of civil disobedience.
``If we do not see the political nature of Falun Gong and do not resolutely and properly set about resolving it, this would be a historical error,'' the commentary said.
Tapping into a wave of nationalism in the aftermath of China's record gold medal haul at the Sydney Olympics, the commentary also said Falun Gong had tried to taint Chinese athletes' victories.
``The gaily coloured five-star red flag was raised on high again and again, and the magnificent national anthem moved people's hearts,'' it said.
``But as Chinese athletes busted their guts in the arena, and Chinese hearts swelled with pride, Falun Gong organised some people to come and make trouble in Sydney.''
ANTI-CHINA FORCES
The commentary accused Falun Gong of being in league with a whole range of dissident forces, including separatists in the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, supporters of Taiwan independence, and Chinese democracy activists.
It alleged that ``anti-China forces'' in the United States were supporting the group to try to Westernise and break up China.
``To tell the truth, they don't want to see a strong China or a China with a stable environment for economic development,'' it said.
Last week, the United States criticised Chinese police tactics against Falun Gong followers during the National Day protests.
Washington, partly in response to the crackdown on the Falun Gong movement, has named China as a ``country of particular concern'' under a law requiring the Clinton administration to report on religious persecution around the world.
Falun Gong followers in Hong Kong said on Monday China had detained two adherents after they sued President Jiang Zemin and two subordinates for cracking down on the group.
The two plaintiffs -- a Hong Kong resident and a mainland Chinese -- were the first Falun Gong members to take legal action against Beijing's suppression, the members said.
China says it has jailed about 150 core Falun Gong ring leaders.
But Falun Gong says thousands of adherents are in labour camps without trial and a Hong Kong-based human rights group has reported that at least 52 adherents have died in government custody since it was banned in July last year.
HONG KONG (AP) - Two Falun Gong adherents were arrested after filing a lawsuit in mainland China accusing President Jiang Zemin of carrying out a brutal crackdown against the spiritual group, local followers said Monday.
The Falun Gong practitioners, Chu O-ming, 43, and Wang Jie, 37, sent their lawsuit through the mail on Aug. 29 to the Chinese court, according to a Falun Gong spokesman in Hong Kong.
Spokesman Kan Hung-cheung told a news conference that Chu, a Hong Kong businessman, and Wang, an editor with a survey and map publisher in Beijing, were arrested in the Chinese capital on Sept. 7.
Kan said the two were being held at the Fangshan District Jail in Beijing, and none of their relatives has been officially informed about why they were arrested.
The meditation sect is banned on the mainland but legal in Hong Kong.
Thousands of Falun Gong followers have been detained since Chinese leaders outlawed the group last year, calling it a threat to communist rule and a public menace.
Falun Gong practitioners have often complained of mistreatment by Chinese authorities, and they claim some adherents have died in custody.
The Falun Gong followers said they had received no acknowledgment of the lawsuit, which names as defendants two top Jiang aides, Zeng Qinghong and Luo Gan.
A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Xu Xin-xin, said she had no information about the lawsuit Falun Gong says was filed.
Hui said practitioners had also sent a petition to the Hong Kong Security Bureau seeking assistance for Chu, a permanent resident of the territory. A Security Bureau spokesman, Jonathan Li, said Hong Kong officials were seeking details on the case.
Falun Gong has attracted millions of followers, most of them in China, with its combination of slow-motion exercises and its philosophy drawn from Taoism, Buddhism and the often unorthodox ideas of founder Li Hongzhi.
BEIJING (AP) - China launched a scathing verbal attack Monday on the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, accusing it of trying to bring down the government and of colluding with the communist regime's opponents.
The lengthy, acidly worded critique by the state-run Xinhua News Agency signaled the government's anger and frustration that its 14-month crackdown on Falun Gong and the arrests of thousands of adherents have failed to crush the group.
Xinhua labeled Falun Gong ``reactionary,'' a politically charged term used in China to tar the government's opponents. It accused the group of joining forces with pro-democracy campaigners and supporters of independence for Taiwan, Tibet and China's unruly Muslim far west.
Falun Gong ``openly opposes the party and government and has transformed completely from head to tail into a reactionary political organization with the goal of overthrowing the People's Republic of China and the socialist system,'' Xinhua said.
Falun Gong adherents deny that the group has political ambitions, maintaining that their beliefs - an eclectic mix of Taoist and Buddhist cosmology and the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi - promote health and morality. They have called for an end to China's crackdown and for legal recognition of the group as a school of ``qigong,'' traditional Chinese health and meditation exercises from which Falun Gong is partly derived.
The government outlawed the group last year as a threat to communist rule and as a public menace. Government officials say Falun Gong cheats members and has caused 1,500 deaths, including suicides and murders by group followers.
Xinhua's attack, among the most vitriolic carried by the wholly state-run media in recent months, appeared to have been prompted by a dramatic protest by hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners on Tiananmen Square during China's Oct. 1 National Day celebrations.
Police detained roughly 350 followers, beating most as they forced them into vans. Adherents chanted slogans, unfurled banners and threw sheets of printed paper in the air, forcing the brief closure of much of the hallowed square in Beijing's heart.
Xinhua claimed that the demonstration provoked ``great righteous indignation'' among common Chinese, who have since ``demanded that the government and judiciary severely punish the troublemakers.''
It did not say whether punishments have or will be handed down to those detained. But it said ``a considerable portion'' of die-hard Falun Gong supporters ``tend to be quite strongly anti-government, anti-society in their thinking'' - harsh language that could presage even tougher government action against the group.
Falun Gong adherents have protested almost daily since the movement was banned in July 1999. Xinhua did not say how many took part in the Oct. 1 demonstration but noted that some Falun Gong protests in Beijing and other cities since May involved more than 100 followers.
Elsewhere Monday, two Falun Gong adherents were arrested after filing a lawsuit in mainland China accusing President Jiang Zemin of carrying out the brutal crackdown, local followers in Hong Kong said.
The Falun Gong practitioners, Chu O-ming, 43, and Wang Jie, 37, sent their lawsuit through the mail on Aug. 29 to the Chinese court, according to a Falun Gong spokesman in Hong Kong.
Spokesman Kan Hung-cheung told a news conference that Chu, a Hong Kong businessman, and Wang, an editor with a survey and map publisher in Beijing, were arrested in the Chinese capital on Sept. 7. Kan said the two were being held at a Beijing jail.
Police yesterday arrested more than 20 members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group trying to evade tight security to stage another protest at Tiananmen Square, four days after a huge demonstration. Foreign reporters saw two vans containing 20 Falun Gong members. The followers had been grabbed by police after trying to demonstrate their loyalty to the group by shouting slogans in the square. A police officer sitting in the front seat of one van beat a practitioner with his fists while trying to keep him from climbing to the front as the vehicle was driven off the square, reports said.
In the other van, police shoved followers back into their seats while trying to pull all the window shades down to keep foreign and domestic tourists from noticing the commotion.
Four middle-aged followers were dragged away as they used the alternative name for Falun Gong and shouted "Falun Dafa is good". Police slapped one man and grabbed him by his hair when he refused to stop shouting.
A US-based spokesman for the group, Dana Cheng, said a protest was planned for 10am yesterday but many practitioners could not get on the square due to a massive police presence. "I know there are still many practitioners in Beijing. They want to do something but the police are so prepared," she .
saidYesterday's arrests followed Sunday's protest when about 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners were rounded up in two hours as a small army of soldiers and police dragged protesters into buses and vans, while throngs of tourists watched in shock.
Sunday's protest stole the show during the National Day celebrations to mark 51 years of communist rule and humiliated authorities more than a year after they banned the group.
Police and People's Liberation Army soldiers were out in full force yesterday, with groups standing watch on the square, while undercover officers, some dressed as hip-looking youngsters in trendy jeans, roamed around.
Twenty city buses, some containing soldiers, were parked across the street, while eight tourist coaches sat on the square with soldiers and police in waiting.
Beijing considers the Falun Gong, which combines martial arts, Buddhism and sect founder Li Hongzhi's moral teachings, to be the biggest threat to its rule since the 1989 student pro-democracy demonstrations.
The Government banned the group, which claims to have 70 million members, in July last year after accusing it of seeking to overthrow the state and being an evil cult.
Since the ban, China has sentenced 450 followers to prison for up to 18 years, sent more than 600 to mental hospitals, placed 10,000 in labour camps and locked up a further 20,000 in temporary detention centres, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.
What Is Falun Gong? See "Falun Gong 101", by Massimo Introvigne
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