The New York Times

Thursday, December 2, 1999

Few Members of Large Sect to Face Trial, Beijing Says

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

BEIJING -- More than 150 people have been formally arrested in connection with the crack down on the Falun Gong spiritual movement, a government official said Wednesday.

He also acknowledged that Falun Gong followers have had more than 35,000 run-ins with the police in the past five months, the first official public tally of the government's intense effort to damp a stubborn group it has labeled "an evil cult."

But Qian Xiaoqian, an official with the news office of China's state council, dismissed as a "total fabrication" reports from a Hong Kong-based human rights group that 35,792 Falun Gong practitioners had been detained since the government banned the group in July. Qian said that number represents "the total number of times individuals who attempted to assemble illegally in public places in Beijing since July were persuaded to leave or were taken away from the site." He said the number of individuals involved was in fact lower because some people had to be dispersed again and again. Falun Gong, founded in 1992, combines traditional Chinese exercises and meditation with elements of mystical Buddhism and Taoism.

Adherents of the movement, which had millions of followers before the ban, say it enhances both physical and spiritual well-being. Most run-ins took place just after the government banned the group in July, apparently in public parks, where Falun Gong followers customarily gathered to exercise. But there was a spate of detentions in the last six weeks in Tiananmen

Square, as supporters from other parts of China and even a few from overseas have intermittently staged small silent protests to try to win the group official recognition. Chinese practitioners from outside Beijing have generally been sent to their hometowns, where they receive "education" from local authorities, officials here have said.

Earlier this week the Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China, which is based in Hong Kong, released statistics from what it called a top secret government report delivered Friday to a Politburo committee by a senior party official, Li Lanqing.

It quoted Li as saying 35,792 Falun Gong practitioners had been detained. Most -- 26,003 -- were detained between July 20 and 22. But according to the center, the report said 4,230 people were detained during the last week of October.

During that week, members of the National People's Congress met to pass a new anti-cult law. In response, a steady stream of Falun Gong members from all over China straggled into Tiananmen Square, where they sat or performed their exercises in silent protest until they were led away by the police.

On the vast stage of Tiananmen, always crowded with tourists, it was difficult to estimate how many practitioners were taken away.

Detentions of handfuls of people occurred here and there over the course of any given day. They were quick and usually peaceful, though some detainees said they had been mistreated, an accusation the police denied.

While Qian did not dispute the total number of more than 35,000 encounters with the police, he said it did not represent the number of detentions, which have been far fewer.

Most of the 150-plus Falun Gong practitioners who have been formally charged are being accused of violating the new anti-cult law, which allows for lengthy prison terms.

But another larger group has been sent without trial to "re-education though labor" camps, and others remain in short-term detention, rights groups have said. The Hong Kong center estimates that there are probably 1,000 followers in labor camps. Qian did not give any numbers for such groups.

Although Qian said the outcome of the government's efforts had "been good," it is clear that the group's more devoted members are loath to give up Falun Gong and that many continue to practice at home.

The Hong Kong rights group said Li acknowledged as much. "Since July 20 there has not been a single day free from worry," the center quoted him as saying."