July 20, 2000 at 10:44:38 PDT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 100 Falun Gong protesters exercised quietly and stood vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy Thursday, as the embassy spokesman held a news conference to condemn the movement as a dangerous, mind-controlling cult.

On the first anniversary of China's crackdown on the group, followers protested the deaths of 24 members they said were killed while in custody of the Chinese government, and the detention of thousands more.

"We're going to hear a lot of noise from the remaining zealots of that cause," embassy press counselor Zhang Yuanyuan said, claiming that 98 percent of Falun Gong's practitioners have rejected the group.

Zhang repeated government accusations that the group cheats its followers and has caused hundreds to die by convincing them to refuse medical treatment. He said their leaders use them as "cannon fodder against the law of the land."

"The Chinese government cannot allow this cult to prey on innocent people," Zhang said.

Falun Gong, founded eight years ago by former government clerk Li Hongzhi, is a blend of slow-motion exercises, meditation and ideas drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and Li.

The vast majority of followers are Chinese, but it has followers around the world, and some non-Chinese joined the Washington demonstration. Practitioners said they have no formal organization, denied they are members of a cult, and said they have no estimate of the number of followers in the United States.

"We do five sets of exercises daily, build moral character, basically become a better person," said Dean Tsaggaris, 30, of San Jose, Calif., who said he had been a Falun Gong practitioner for about three years.