Hong Kong arrests Falun Gong protesters

August 26, 2001

<H2>HK arrests Falun Gong protesters</H2>

<FONT size="-2">REUTERS AND AP</FONT>

Police made the first arrests in Hong Kong of Falun Gong supporters yesterday as they staged a hunger strike to support other followers of the spiritual movement who are imprisoned in China.

The 10 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested for "obstruction in public places" and later released. But the protesters said they would continue their demonstration even if it meant risking arrest again.

Nine women and one man began their sit-in and hunger strike at 9am at the front entrance of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, in Hong Kong's western district. They left plenty of room for passers-by in an area that was virtually empty.

Police on the sidewalk outnumbered the Falun Gong followers and Falun Gong said that if anybody had been blocking things, it was the police.

"When the police say we are obstructing the sidewalk, they should first ask themselves to stop obstructing the sidewalk," said Fiona Ching, who had been at the scene of the protest.

"We have warned them many times that their sit-in protests have obstructed the public," regional police commander Ng Wing-kai told reporters at the scene.

"On top of that, we have received two complaints from the public about their obstruction," Ng said, without disclosing who had complained.

"We were all released by about 6:30pm. We were unable to reach a compromise with the police about our protest, so we will continue our effort," hunger striker Zhou Sheng said after her release.

"We were forced individually into police vehicles at about 1pm," Wang Yaoqing, another hunger striker said.

"The police told us we were arrested because of traffic obstruction complaints made by the Chinese Liaison Office," Wang said by mobile phone during her detention at Hong Kong's western district police station yesterday afternoon.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement regarding the arrests that the police "would endeavor to ensure public order, safety and reduce any inconvenience to the public to the minimum."

Police insisted Falun Gong had not been singled out and Security Bureau spokeswoman Patricia Mok said Falun Gong was free to keep practicing and speaking its mind in Hong Kong as long as its members obey the law.

"I want to stress that we treat this group like any other group," Ng said. "We just act according to the rules. We treat everybody the same."

August 27, 2001

<h3>Falungong family from France seized during visit to China: report</h3>

BEIJING, Aug 27 (AFP) - A Chinese couple and their young daughter based in France, all members of the Falungong movement, have been detained while visiting relatives in China, the spiritual group said Monday.

Chi Jian, a Ph.D. student of economics at the Second University of the City of Grenoble, his wife Sun Fenglong and their daughter Chi Yifan, all of whom hold French residency, were seized in a raid August 7, the Falun Dafa Information Center said.

While the three were spending time in north China's Inner Mongolia region, public security agents stormed their house and "kidnapped" them, a statement issued by the center said.

No one has seen or heard from them since, and faculty and students at Chi's university have launched a campaign for their release, while the French government reportedly has begun an investigation, the statement added.

Police officials of the Inner Mongolia region contacted by AFP declined to comment on the report.

"I can't tell you anything about this case," a spokesman for the region's police department said by telephone.

The Chinese government has a previous record of detaining overseas nationals or residents when they came back to China to visit relatives, the Falungong information center said.

"The fact that they are targeting children and families clearly demonstrates how desperate the supporters of (Chinese President) Jiang Zemin's brutal policies have become," Adam Montanaro, spokesman for the center, said in the statement.

The center referred to the case of Teng Chunyan, a US resident and Falungong member, who was sentenced in 2000 to three years in prison for exposing the detention of Falungong practitioners in mental hospitals.

The 37-year-old acupuncturist from New York was accused of leading foreign journalists to a village in the Fangshan district of Beijing to interview Falungong adherents who had been detained in a mental hospital.

China refers to the Falungong as a "heretical cult" and considers it the biggest threat to social stability since the 1989 pro-democracy student demonstrations.

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of Falungong followers have been sentenced to jail terms and tens of thousands sent to labour camps, while more than 100 are reported to have died in police detention.