China Quells Sect Anniversary Rally

Hustling peaceful protesters into vans, Chinese police cracked down Saturday on Falun Gong members who were marking the first anniversary of the banning of their meditation group with banners and brief displays of civil disobedience.

One plainclothes policeman dragged away a woman by the ankles as an officer in a green uniform gripped a clump of her hair in crowded Tiananmen Square, one of China’s most famous tourist sites and a popular venue for Falun Gong protests.

In past demonstrations, the sect was able to mobilize large numbers of protesters, and there was anticipation that it would orchestrate a big turnout Saturday to defiantly mark the year-old ban.

But most of the scattered protests Saturday involved individuals or small groups unfurling banners or sitting in the square cross-legged in the lotus position. About 100 people were rounded up in the morning, the most popular time for the sect to protest.

The largest group involved about 25 people who blocked police from immediately seizing their banner. Police eventually broke up the group.

Founded eight years ago, Falun Gong has attracted millions of followers, drawn by its blend of slow-motion exercises and ideas derived from Buddhism, Taoism and the sect’s exiled leader, Li Hongzhi, a former government grain clerk. Adherents say the practice promotes health, moral living and, in experts, supernatural powers.

But the government has called Falun Gong an unprecedented threat to Communist rule. It has accused Falun Gong of cheating followers and causing 1,500 deaths, mostly of adherents who Beijing said refused medical treatment according to what it claims are the group’s teachings.