Banned Sect Briefly Takes Over State TV

Defiant members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement hijacked state television in a northeastern Chinese city to show a film protesting a government crackdown on the group, residents said.

Television broadcasts in Changchun were interrupted for nearly an hour Tuesday evening by footage of Falun Gong’s U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi, and a film accusing the regime of staging a self-immolation of alleged adherents in Tiananmen Square last year, residents said.

Reports of the television protest emerged as China detained seven foreign adherents protesting Beijing’s crackdown.